DADU, Jan 16: The Sindh health director general has said 4,200 cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis have been reported at government hospitals in Dadu, Jacobabad, Sukkur, Larkana and Shikarpur districts during the current season.

The official, Dr Hadi Bux Jatoi, told a press conference at the office of the EDO, health, here on Sunday that the number of patients of the skin disease could increase to 10,000 if effective and immediate measures were not taken to eliminate sand-fly, causing the disease, in affected areas.

He said the Dadu district was the worst affected where 3,058 cases of the disease had been reported. He said 221 cases had been reported at hospitals in Jacobabad, 256 in Sukkur, 593 in Larkana, 64 in Shikarpur and six in Khairpur.

He said the disease was spreading in border districts of Sindh and Balochistan. Dr Jatoi said the Sindh government had imposed a ban on carrying out aerial spray because it would affect fish farms and animals but now there was an urgency to control the skin disease through spray in the affected areas and kill the sand fly.

He said he had talked to the Sindh chief minister during his recent visit to the Petaro Cadet College who had given an assurance that the ban would be lifted.

He said he had constituted four teams of doctors to conduct a survey and audit of hospitals and medicines provided in the Dadu district. Later, he visited affected areas in Johi, Sehwan, Khairpur Nathan Shah and Dadu and assured the patients of proper treatment.

OUR KHAIRPUR CORRESPONDENT ADDS: Cases of the skin disease leishmaniasis have appeared in Thari Mirwah and Kotdiji talukas. The disease is spreading in Sawan Majidano, Dubi, Qaim Shah, Ramzan Jiskani and Mengho Fakir villages.

The affected patients include Sakina, 18, Ali Raza Jiskani, mother and sister of Shafique Jogi, a daughter of Bagh Ali Jiskani and Ghulam Hussain Shar. About eight people are said to be affected by the disease in Kumb area of the Kotdiji taluka.