LARKANA, Feb 24: A medical team that visited the hilly area of Ghabidero on Tuesday to provide treatment to Leishmaniasis- affected patients, found hepatitis-B and malaria rampant in the vicinity.
DCO Dr Badaruddin Ujjan inaugurated the camp for which the Sindh government had provided medicines while the team was headed by Leishmaniasis focal person Dr Farooq Rehman Soomro and Sindh task force member Dr Abdul Manan Bhutto, who is also the head of the department of skin diseases.
Dr Soomro said 19 new cases of the skin disease were found while 325 patients were examined and provided free medicines. He said at least 30 out of the 325 patients were found to be suffering from hepatitis-B while adding that most of the people had also been infected with malaria.
He considered unhygienic conditions coupled with multiple use of disposable syringes behind the spread of hepatitis-B. Speaking on the occasion, the DCO said the district government was working to provide maximum preventive coverage to the people against fatal diseases and assured the medical team of all possible assistance in holding such camps in remote areas.
District health officials said realizing the gravity of the situation, they approached Safe Blood Transfusion Authority programme manager Dr Ferhana Memon to provide special kits for conducting blood tests to which the SBTA directorate had agreed.
Leishmaniasis: As many as 600 cases of Leishmaniasis have been treated in the Larkana cell since the first-ever case was discovered in February 2001.
A one-day seminar on Leishmaniasis held here on Monday was told that the first-ever case was detected in Sono Khan Chandio village, union council Gaibidero.
Speaking on the occasion, EDO (health) Dr Abdul Wahab Wadho said the second outbreak, in January 2002, in the hilly area of the district was effectively handled.
The focal person for Sindh province, Dr Sharaf Ali Shah, said the government was determined to provide medicines and nets to patients afflicted by the skin disease.
The Sindh focal person handed over 500 vials of injections to Larkana focal person Farooq Rehman Soomro for use in a one-day camp being organized in Gaibidero on Feb 24.
Earlier, it was decided in a meeting to establish a rehabilitation center for HIV/AIDS patients in the Chandka Medical College Hospital for which the UNAIDS and the Sindh government would provide funds and expertise. The EDO (health) would head the project while a task force headed by the district Nazim would supervize the centre.
Unicef: Unicef has selected seven districts in Sindh to improve delivery of social services at grassroots level and assist district governments in activities related to immunization.
A district government official told this correspondent here on Tuesday that Larkana, Ghotki, Khairpur, Badin, Thatta, Dadu and Shikarpur districts had been chosen by the country office of Unicef. Larkana district government has nominated health EDO Dr Abdul Wahab Wadho as focal person for the programme.