ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: A task force established to suggest appropriate strategies to prevent and control the spread of Hepatitis-B and C would submit its recommendations to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz by the end of this month, a source told Dawn.

The task force was set up by the health ministry on the direction of the prime minister to prepare a feasibility on preventing and controlling all types of hepatitis.

Secretary Health Anwar Mehmood on Tuesday said a national strategy on controlling hepatitis was almost ready for which a feasibility report was also being prepared. Similarly, a strategy for reduction in the maternal mortality rate would also be drawn soon.

He was speaking at a seminar on "National Media Retreat on Health" organized by the National Institute of Health (NIH) at a local hotel. The seminar was designed to update media professionals on the progress of three key programmes of the health ministry namely EPI (Expanded Programme of Immunization), HIV/AIDS and National Programme for Family Planning and the Primary Health Care.

A new icon for EPI communication campaign called "Teeku-Sub Bachon Ka Dost" (children's best friend) was also launched on the occasion. A cute cartoon character, Teeku, is being projected as a branding solution for routine EPI to protect children from seven deadly diseases.

Teeku would be launched in a phased manner and would be projected through a carefully selected multiple mix of media. About the ongoing row between the health ministry and the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), the health secretary said his ministry had a neutral role, as it wanted to see the council functioning as an effective regulatory organization offering a level playing field to every institution imparting medical education, be it public or private.

Citing PM&DC Act, he said Section III of the law suggested that every medical institution that offered medical education and dentistry should have one representative each in the PM&DC. However, the law makes no mention of the word 'private' medical colleges, as no private medical institution existed when this law was enacted.

PM&DC, he said, had also submitted to the health ministry a set of amendments to the PM&DC Act that included substantial reduction in the number of councillors to 26 from the current 54 by giving representation to every public or private medical college.

These proposed amendments are being considered by the ministry in consultation with other stakeholders for which approval of the cabinet would also be sought. He also brushed aside the impression that the ministry was pressurizing the council to postpone its election for electing a new president.

"I am acting as secretary health and not as a health minister," was his reply when asked about the repatriation of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Secretary Sohail Hashmi to the health ministry. Anwar Mehmood also asked the media professionals to be careful while reporting on health issues and avoid sensationalization.

World Health Organization (WHO) Country Representative Dr Khalif Bile emphasized bridging the widening gap between knowledge and action and expressed concern over inadequate media coverage of health and sensationalization of news, resulting in loss of resources and lives.

Unicef Country Representative Dr Omar Abdi said 60 per cent of child deaths could be prevented through immunization that was the most cost-effective strategy. Referring to HIV/AIDS, he said Pakistan was a low-prevalence but high-risk country, while poverty, illiteracy, gender inequality, silence and denial compounded the situation.