PESHAWAR, Aug 24: The National Aids Control Programme (NACP) has decided to set up an anti-retroviral therapy centre in Kohat for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/Aids.

This was decided in a meeting attended by officials of the Provincial Aids Control Programme, World Health Organisation (WHO) and medical superintendent, Kohat district headquarters hospital, a health official said.

He said that the decision to set up the centre was taken after the rising number reports of HIV/Aids patients.

“Health staff would be trained so they could attend patients with extreme precautions,” said a WHO official.

Sources said the health department was troubled by reports about a sharp increase in the number of HIV/Aids cases among migrant families in areas, especially in Hangu district and Orakzai Agency,

They said that Dr Asma Bokhari, manager of the NACP, had asked the PACP to prepare a feasibility report for establishing a centre in Kohat.

A PACP official said were preparing a feasibility report to pave the way for the setting up of the centre within a month.

“We will provide staff, drugs and equipment,” said an official of the World Health Organisation. He said that of the 400 total patients so far reported in the NWFP and Fata, 90 per cent belonged to southern districts. “We have a centre in the Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar but it was not easily accessible to people from remote areas, especially the southern districts of the province,” he said.

He said that a working group, comprising health professionals, journalists and travel agents, had been formed to visit Hangu district and Orakzai Agency to get first hand information about the number of HIV/Aids patients.

“We have established treatment centres in Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi where medicines for 30 patients have been sent to each centre,” the official said, adding that it would be second anti-retroviral therapy centre in the NWFP.

ART reduces chances of HIV transmission, slows the progress of infection and improves the quality of life, he said, adding that the cost of generic ART (three-drug regimen) was $300-500 per patient annually. Official said that Aga Khan Medical University Hospital had also planned a study to ascertain the number of patients in Hangu, Kurram and Orakzai Agencies and furnish recommendations regarding the prevention strategies.

“Most of the people in southern districts and Fata contract the disease in Middle Eastern countries,” he said.