LARKANA, Oct 20: Sindh health secretary Ashique Hussain Memon has said that a full-fledged AIDS rehabilitation center will be established in Larkana by seeking maximum support from the government.

Speaking at a one-day seminar on AIDS and HIV here on Saturday, the health secretary said that AIDS patients should not be neglected or isolated as they were also a part of the society.

Informing the seminar that hepatitis B was more dangerous than AIDS, he said the government was trying its best to serve those infected by the disease. He also stressed the need of educating the society regarding AIDS.

Speaking on the occasion, district Nazim Khursheed Ahmed Junejo disclosed that 55 HIV positive cases had been found in the district so far. He also pledged all out support in this connection.

The director, Safe Blood Transfusion, Sindh, Dr Farhana Memon, said under the new law, no laboratory could work without registration. So far, 70 applications had been received and, till the registration, laboratories had been asked not to encourage unscreened blood transfusion, she added.

She said under the programme, the directorate had provided free kits to 50 government-run hospitals in the province and people were advised to obtain blood from these hospitals.

The director, AIDS Control Programme, Sindh, and others also addressed the seminar.