LARKANA, March 29: The Ziauddin Hospital, Karachi, on Saturday announced to extend its help in combating Leishmaniasis skin disease problem in Sindh, Dr Shakeel Farooqi, genetics expert, said.

Speaking at a seminar held here on Friday, he said that an in-depth study would be conducted with the help of Polymers Chain Reaction and its application in clinical diagnostics of Leishmaniasis.

The study, he said, would employ the state-of-the-art Nucleic Acid Testing technology and benefit poor patients of far-flung areas, who could not afford such treatment, in the next few months.

He said that the programme was set to begin immediately.

Early diagnostics, applying PCR technique, would help lower the intensity of the skin disease in the endemic areas.

Tests, he said, would be carried out free of cost for an specific period and later only the cost of reagents, used in its diagnostics, would be charged, which would not exceed Rs400 per test.

He said that previous efforts had been focussed only on the skin types of the patients suffering from the skin disease, ignoring other properties, which posed a greater threat to the well being of the patients.

A number of professors and doctors from the Chandka Medical College Teaching Hospital participated in the discussion on trends in molecular diagnostics at the end of the seminar.

training course: Participants of a sub-regional training course on technical analysis of archaeological sites late Friday arrived in Moenjodaro.

Irshad Ridd, curator of Moenjodaro told this correspondent over telephone on Saturday that participants of the course,included officers from the federal provincial departments of archaeology, including the Sindh archives department, army museum, department of earth sciences of the University of Punjab as well as archaeologists and conservators from Azerbaijan, Tajkistan, Kyrgyzystan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.

Participants, after completing their theoretical studies at the Pakistan Institute of Archaeological Training and Research begun practical studies at Moenjodaro, which would continue till April 2.

The Sindh minister for culture would give away awards at a ceremony while the Unesco’s regional advisor for culture in Asia- Pacific Dr Richard Engel Hardth would arrive in Pakistan to attend the ceremony, sources said.