20000327

Chest

diseases

on rise

LAHORE: There has been significant rise in the cases of TBs asthma, lung cancer and chronic obstructive lung diseases in the country.

Stating this, renowned chest specialist and incharge Model Chest Clinic, Ganga-ram Hospital, Dr Amir Nazir said on Sunday that according to a WHO report, Pakistan was among the three states in Asia which had high incidents of tuberculosis and which did not have national plans for control of the disease. The other two are Afghanistan and a CIS-state.

He said that TB was a national problem and that his clinic was now seeing more patients with abdominal and chest TBs. He said that the high rate of TB in Pakistan might be due to the high influx of refugees into the country from Afghanistan. He said that while the incidence of TB in Pakistan was 181 cases per 100,000 population, in the European Union it was only 13 TB cases per 100,000 persons.

Dr. Amir said that if left alone, 50 percent of the patients died of the disease, about 30 percent were cured because of their own immune systems while 30 percent had chronic TB which never got better and affected other people. He said now the people of well-to-do families are becoming victims of TB.ÑPPI