PESHAWAR, March 29: Experts here have urged TB patients to continue their treatment for eight consecutive months, saying that discontinuation and resumption of treatment results in multi-drug-resistant TB which ultimately kills the patient.

Dr Abdul Ghafoor, manager of the NWFP TB Control Programme, said: “We are offering free diagnostic and treatment facilities in all 24 districts of the province. Discontinuation and resumption of treatment is extremely dangerous.”

He was speaking at a function organised jointly by the Abaseen Foundation and the Nahaqi Satellite Hospital to observe World TB Day here on Wednesday.

Dr Ghafoor said that patients should contact the nearest TB centres in case they had pain in the chest, fever and cough for two weeks, and added that investigation was also simple as patients could be diagnosed with an X-ray of the chest and a microscopic examination of the sputum.

He said presently 166 diagnostic and 800 treatment centres were taking care of patients under the Directly Observed Treatment Short (Dots) course.

He said that 24,500 patients had been registered in 2005 in the NWFP against 18,500 in 2004, and added that lack of awareness and discontinuation of treatment were the main reasons for the increase in the number of patients.

He said that 54 per cent of the patients were female and 46 per cent male.

Dr Abdul Majid Qureshi, in charge of the hospital, said that they had launched the TB Control Programme at the hospital in July 2002.

Dr Mukhtiar Zaman Afridi, chair hospital management board, said that TB only transmitted through coughing and sneezing. He asked patients to cover their mouths while coughing or sneezing.

He said that the Abaseen Foundation was providing health and education services to the people in the region and added that it organised free medical camps.

Information Minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai said that health was the top-most priority of the government.

He said that in district Peshawar 15 diagnostic and 90 treatment centres were providing free TB facilities to the people.