HYDERABAD, March 24: Leaders and members of the Anti-TB Association and community workers of its local component branches here on Friday held a detailed interaction to mark the World TB Day. They paid tributes to Dr Robert Cock, who had discovered the causative bacterium of TB on March 24, 1882.

The speakers including Dr Noor Mohammad Memon, the president of the Sindh Anti-TB Association said that Dr Cock had paved the way for other scientists to discover potent drugs against these bacteria.

They said that Streptomycine injection was the first drug to be followed by five more drugs which have made the hitherto incurable disease into a completely curable disease.

Later, the members of the Sindh Anti-TB Association attended a seminar at Jamshoro which was organized by the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences for creating awareness about all aspects of tuberculosis which was attended by a large number of faculty members, students and the people of the area.

The specialists of the subject spoke at length on the use of latest drugs and made it clear that TB was a completely curable disease provided medicines were taken on time and as per fixed schedule.

LARKANA: Doctors at an anti-TB walk here on Friday said that twelve per cent TB patients discontinue Directly-Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) programme.

They were talking to participants who attended the walk marking the World TB Day-2006.

The anti-TB awareness walk was organized by the directorate of the TB control programme in collaboration with the EDO health, Pakistan Chest Society and MERCY Corps.

The walk started from the chest ward of the CMC hospital and ended at the press club.