BEIJING: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will help assist Pakistan in eliminating the tuberculosis disease, Secretary Health Khushnood Lashari said here Thursday, APP reports.
The Secretary participated in an International Conference on Tuberculosis organized by World Health Organization in conjunction with Chinese Health Ministry and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The international software tycoon Bill Gates, who attended the meeting Wednesday, assured Pakistani delegation that his organization would team up with them to improve detection and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) in the country.
The foundation in this regard will also send experts to Pakistan, Lashari added.
As per survey conducted by WHO, Lashari said there were 13000 Multi Drug-Resistance TB (MDR-TB) cases in the country. Approximately $6000 (as per estimate) is incurred in the treatment of a MDR-TB case, he said.
Pakistan is estimated to need around $155 million for the treatment of TB patients.
Bill Gates also said he would cooperate with the WHO and the Health Ministry in carrying out a fresh survey to collect data on number of present TB patients in the country, Lashari added.
Lashari said that Health Ministers and officials from some 30 countries and regions were in attendance who discussed how to cope with the increasing threat of drug-resistant TB.
Dawn (Pakistan)
