Government not providing funds for Tuberculosis control programme: Seminar told

The federal government is not paying a single penny to the National Tuberculosis (TB) Control Programme despite the fact that the Centre was responsible to run the programme after devolution of the Ministry of Health to the provinces.
National Manager, head of the National TB Control Programme, Dr Ijaz Qadeer while speaking at a seminar organised by The National Tuberculosis (TB) Control Programme here on Monday, said that After the 18th amendment the Ministry of Health had been devolved and now the provincial governments were responsible for running the business of the Ministry. However, the National TB Control Programme is being supervised by the Federal government.
The programme is being run on foreign funding plus the funds allocated by the provincial governments. He said that The Global Fund is providing free medicines to the programme for the treatment of the TB affected patients, he added. "National TB Control programme aims at providing proper treatment to 0.4 million patients suffering from tuberculosis and we are hopeful that by adopting certain preventive measures, a number of patients would be reduced to the minimum within the next 4 to 5 years. The TB Programme has provided treatment to 1.2 million patients for last 4-5 years. We are trying our best to reach the remote areas of the country to minimise and control the epidemic", he said.
He lauded the diligent efforts of the staff, NGOs and volunteers, saying that over the years a committed and trained force had been created which was performing its functions with a missionary zeal. He, however, agreed that still a lot more is required to be done because people in the far-flung areas find it difficult to reach hospitals.
He said people are well aware that TB is a curable disease and they are not hesitant to go to the medical centers for check-up. He said that 75 percent of the TB patients are between the age group of 15 and 45 years and 21 percent over fifty years of age. The treatment of TB patients is completed within 6 months, he added. "There are more than 5000 diagnosis and treatment centers providing TB services to poor and marginalized population across Pakistan", he added.