PESHAWAR, Jan 14: Speakers at a workshop here on Thursday called upon laboratory technicians to upgrade their skills and techniques in detecting TB cases.

"Improved laboratory services play significant part in the detection of TB, because doctors treated patients in line with laboratory results," said Dr Akmal Naveed, managing director of the Association for Community Development (ACD), at the concluding day of the 10-day workshop "Strengthening TB Control Programme in NWFP/Fata.

The course was organized jointly by the TB Control Programme, ACD and GTZ-German technical agency. He said that the course was conducted to improve the skills of the laboratory technicians from six districts - Tank, Battagram, Lakki Marwat, Karak, Mansehra and Shangla.

The 11 trained technicians, he said, would now be in a better position to make more laboratories functional in their respective areas to detect TB cases. Dr Abdul Ghafoor, manager of TB Control Programme, was of the view that TB, which kills about 35,000 people in the country annually, was curable, but stressed the need for improved laboratory services to diagnose the patients in time.