Balochistan government cranks silicosis treatment up a notch

Committee formed under supervision of Fatimah Jinnah Hospital’s Dr Sheeren to diagnose disease

Balochistan Health Secretary Saleh Mohammad Nasir has said that the provincial government is utilising all resources to implement labour safety laws.

“We are implementing the programme to protect workers in factories across the province from silicosis which is caused by environmental pollution,” said the health secretary while presiding over a conference on the safety of workers on Friday.



Balochistan Environmental Protection Agency Director General Mohammad Tariq Zehri, Additional Health Secretary Abdul Rauf Baloch, Chief Planning Officer Abdul Rasool Zehri, Deputy Chief Planning Naseer Ahmed Khan, Public Health Director Dr Hayat Ronjha, Fatima Jinnah Chest and General Hospital Incharge Dr Sheeren Khan Tasri and medical superintendents of care hospitals participated in the conference.

“There is a dire need to create awareness among the labourers about environmental pollution and how to prevent it,” he said. “Hospitals will have to gear up to treat such patients with utmost precision.”

In order to implement the Supreme Court orders to prevent silicosis from spreading, the departments of health, mines and labour as well as Environmental Protection Agency would have to work jointly, he added.



Important decisions were taken in the conference to prevent the disease from spreading and to contain it.

Fatimah Jinnah Chest and General Hospital was made the focal point regarding the disease with Dr Sheeren Khan as its head.

The high-ups of all the hospitals were directed to refer labourers suffering from silicosis to Fatima Jinnah Hospital so that they could get proper treatment.



A committee was also constituted to diagnose the disease under the supervision of Dr Sheeren.

The health secretary said, “Dr Sheeren will be accompanied by MS Helpers Hospital Dr Zulfiqar Ali Baloch and Dr Ilyas Lashari.”

The rest of the stakeholders were directed to ensure complicity and cooperation with the authorities so that their research could be combined and utilised for a more viable treatment in the futre, he added.

Nasir said, “The Balochistan government is utilising all its resources in order to control the disease.”