PESHAWAR, Jan 19: Medical experts have urged health workers to persuade TB patients to continue their treatment for eight months under the directly observed treatment strategy (DOTS) , so that the killer disease could be eliminated from the country.

"The TB Control Programme is running successfully and we have achieved full coverage of patients under DOTS, but the cooperation of doctors and health workers is of vital importance to achieve the target set by the WHO," Dr Abdul Ghafoor, programme manager of the NWFP TB Control Programme, said here on Wednesday.

Speaking at a meeting of doctors and paramedical staff associated with the NWFP TB Control Programme at the Peshawar-based diagnostic centres, he said that TB patients were being given drugs free of cost for eight month at all TB centres, besides other diagnostic facilities.