PESHAWAR, June 21: Skin disease leishmaniasis continues to affect people across the province, while the health department has yet to initiate any programme either to check its spread or to treat its victims. “The latest area which has reported prevalence of disease is the Malakand Agency where officials have asked the health authorities to help them in providing treatment to affected people,” said a health official.

The agency officials in their communiqué to the health department, the WHO and HealthNet International, an NGO working to control the skin disease, said the number of leishmaniasis patients had been increasing day by day in the area while there was a shortage of trained manpower to cope with the situation.

The letter described the situation in the area as dreadful owing to non-availability of medicines not only in hospitals but also in markets.

“The cost of medicines is quite high and beyond the reach of poor people,” it said, asking the government to make arrangements for training of doctors and paramedics in proper treatment of patients.

At least 100 men of the Frontier Constabulary posted in the Frontier Region of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan have been suffering from leishmaniasis at least for a couple of months, sources said.

Leishmaniasis produces skin lesions mainly on face, arms and legs. Although it is often self-healing, it can create serious disabilities and permanent scars on the body. Children, especially girls in the age of 1-5 years, are common victims of the disease.

Out of 430 FC men, 100 contracted the disease in Darazinda in Dera Ismail Khan Frontier Region, whereas 11 cases have been detected in Manzai and 25 in Tank Frontier Region. The affected men had been waiting for medical treatment, health officials said.

Despite high prevalence of disease in the province, there was no programme in place to check its spread and it was feared that it might turn into epidemic, the officials said.

In view of the rapid spread of the disease in settled parts of the province and Fata, the health department has recently included anti-leishmaniasis drugs in the medical coordination committee (MCC) list so that people could be treated at state-run health facilities.

However, doctors and allied staff posted in public sector’s health facilities have no experience in treating the disease.

The disease is stated to have its origin in Afghanistan and is reportedly brought by Afghan refugees. According to WHO’s Emergency Medical Officer Dr Quaid Saeed, cases of leishmaniasis are mainly reported from areas bordering Afghanistan such as Kurram Agency, Bajaur Agency, Chitral, North and South Waziristan, D.I. Khan, Tank, Swat, Lakki Marwat and Dir.

He said that people of these areas were mainly illiterate and did not know anything about precautionary measures to protect themselves against the infection.

The only way to curb the spread of the disease was to create awareness among people and provide them with bed nets on subsidised rates to protect against sand fly, the WHO official suggested.