CHITRAL, April 4: District TB Control Officer Dr Noorul Islam has said that the government efforts to control TB would not be useful unless they were supported by the public and the spreading of the disease must be taken as a social problem.

Tuberculosis is on rise here due to poverty and lack of awareness, he told Dawn.

He said that despite all-out efforts of the health department the number of TB patients had not decreased over the years.

Explaining the reasons of the proliferation of TB, he said the Afghan refugees were more responsible for it due to their irregular habits  and behaviour.

He said the Afghans left their treatment incomplete and their association with the local population contributed to spreading the disease.

He said that in Nooristan area of Afghanistan, TB had assumed an alarming proportion and the area was contiguous with Chitral.

Dr Noor said that in 1999 the number of TB patients in the district was 1,209, which jumped to 1,452 in 2000 and declined to 1,200 last year. He said that despite the decrease, the figure was still very high.

The patients are given free treatment and about Rs 4,000 are incurred on a patient over eight months, he said.

He said that the rural health centres and Tehsil headquarters hospitals of Booni and Drosh had been provided necessary staff to handle the TB patients at the preliminary level. He said that the relapse cases, in which the patients get infected after treatment, were comparatively low. Most of such affected were Afghan refugees, he said.

He said there was every facility for treatment and diagnosis at the DHQ hospital’s TB centre and the serious patients were admitted to the exclusive wards.