LARKANA, June 10: The district government has decided to update the record of some 85 known AIDS cases in the city. District Nazim Khurshid Junejo who presided over the meeting of district task force for AIDS on Thursday said that the lack of information about AIDS cases was quite worrisome as the chance of infecting more could not be ruled out, if the patients were left to roam freely.

The nazim said that it was discouraging that certain donors discontinued the financial support to NGOs working in the city to reduce the risks of spread of the disease. He said that he had talked to the provincial head of the AIDS control programme, Dr Sharaf Ali Shah, for setting up the rehabilitation center in the city.

The meeting expressed concern over the performance of blood banks and laboratories in the district. EDO health Dr Wahab Wadho said that only three out of 88 laboratories working in the city were equipped while others were ill-equipped.

The focal person of AIDS control programme, Dr Rehman Soomro, said that in Gaibidero area every fourth person was infected with Hepatitis-B which calls for urgent measures to save the people from the disease.

The district nazim asked the EDO health for conducting a survey of the area so that people could be provided relief. The district government will provide free medicines and medical help to the patients.

The meeting decided to establish blood-screening centres in all seven taluka hospitals in the district. The medical superintendent of the Chandka Medical College Hospital, Capt Dr Shahbaig Chandio, jail superintendent Manzoor Memon, additional DPO, EDO health and others attended the meeting.

SHOT DEAD: A villager was shot dead and four others were injured when some Khakhrani tribesmen attacked houses of their rivals in the Meenhan Khan Khakhrani village here on Tuesday.