PESHAWAR: The health department has planned to establish sub-centres to provide treatment to the victims of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the areas where most of the cases of the disease have been reported.

In collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the health department set up the first-ever CL Centre at Naseerullah Khan Babar Memorial Hospital (NKBMH) in May this year following outbreak of the disease in different districts.

The centre has received 1,215 cases till mid-November due to which a sub centre is being established in Nowshera that has recorded 154 cases.

Health expert says skin ailment endemic in remote areas of KP

According to breakup, Peshawar has recorded 550 cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis; Khyber tribal district 122; Karak 84; Mohmand tribal district 52; Charsadda 48; Mardan 46; Kohat 38; Swabi 21; and Hangu has registered 19 cases of the disease.

The centre has been receiving patients from Afghanistan, Punjab and Islamabad because it is the only place in the province to provide specialised treatment for the disease.

“We are planning to establish regional centres in the province. The first one is being opened in Nowshera that will provide treatment to people of Charsadda, Mardan and Swabi districts. We will have more centres in near future. Currently we receive patients from other hospitals of the province,” Dr Siraj Mohammad, medical superintendent of the hospital, told Dawn.

He said that outbreak of cutaneous leishmaniasis was recorded in many districts due to which the health department signed a Memorandum of Understanding with MSF to safeguard people against the disfigurement caused by the parasitic disease. In 2017, the province recorded more than 1,000 cases of the disease from different hospitals.

“The sandfly is present in many areas. It bites the exposed parts of the body and causes lifelong ulcers and scars. The situation becomes worse if the patients are left untreated,” said Dr Siraj. He added that the skin ailment was endemic in the remote areas of the province.

He said that the affected people included women, men and children. He said that women patients faced more problems due to scars on the body especially on face.

The doctors engaged in treatment of patients said that injections were administered to them free of cost. They said that patients were subjected to investigation at the laboratory, especially setup by MSF, to test the bites of the blood-sucking sandfly.

The doctors said that most patients happened to be poor and malnourished. The low-flying sandfly attacked limbs and legs and uncovered parts of the body when people were asleep, they added.

They said that cutaneous leishmaniasis was billed as the world’s second dangerous parasitic infection that could kill the patients.

They added that most of the patients were dependent on Peshawar for treatment but people of far-flung areas couldn’t afford the travel cost.

The doctors said that injection Glucantime, the only drug recommended by World Health Organisation for management of leishmaniasis, was not available in the market. The WHO has been supplying injections to MSF for the patients as the Drug Regulatory Authority has registered the medicines but its import is yet to be started.

In some areas, doctors have also recorded complaints from the patients, especially women, to have been facing social problems because of the lesions on the skin.

The centre also hospitalises serious patients so that they can be closely monitored and administered drugs timely. The doctors said that awareness regarding the causes and prevention of disease was needed to inform the people in endemic regions to use bed nets and stay safe from the sandfly bites.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2018