Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Médecins Sans Frontiéres (MSF), an international medical humanitarian organization also known as Doctors Without Borders, has established a new satellite clinic in BHU Telaband to increase free medical care for patients of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Peshawar and its adjoining districts.

According to a press release issued here on Wednesday, the new clinic will help increase diagnosis and treatment of the skin disease in Peshawar and surrounding districts and has been set up in collaboration with the Department of Health, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The objective behind setting up of the second satellite clinic in the outskirts of Peshawar is to ensure medical care for people suffering from Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL), the statement added.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is caused by a parasite transmitted by the bite of an infected female phlebotomine sandfly.

The disease appears in the form of a small lesion and, if not treated, can cause severe physical disfigurement. It is not fatal but may expose patients to stigma and discrimination in their community.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is one of the main tropical diseases in Pakistan. In November 2021, MSF opened its first satellite clinic in Rural Health Centre Badhbher, Peshawar.

Fifty-nine patients have been put on treatment in the past two months. The newly established Telaband satellite clinic will work on the same model of care.

The clinic at Basic Health Unit Telaband receives patients who are diagnosed at MSF’s Cutaneous Leishmaniasis centre at the Government Naseerullah Khan Baber Memorial Hospital (GNKBMH).

“There are a number of people suffering from cutaneous leishmaniasis in the region and the satellite clinics will help provide extended medical treatment to people in need, in the surrounding districts of Peshawar,” says Delphine Convert, MSF Project Coordinator in Peshawar.

“The satellite clinics are part of our extended support to the health department to improve access of healthcare in the community.

The specialized care is free of charge.” The treatment of CL requires a daily or biweekly injection over the course of three to eight weeks, depending on the severity of the disease. Many patients are not able to complete their treatment because the trip to hospital for those injections is too difficult or too expensive.

The satellite clinics; RHC Badhbher and BHU Telaband will help patients continue treatment close to their communities.

MSF has seven CL centres in Pakistan: three in Balochistan, one in Bannu and three in Peshawar including two newly opened satellite clinics; Badabher and Telaband. MSF also plans to open another cutaneous leishmaniasis centre at Khalifa Gulnawaz Hospital in district of Bannu in early 2022.

In 2021, MSF screened 9,458 patients for cutaneous leishmaniasis and 6,857 patients are started on treatment.

By the end 2021 MSF cured 4,655 patients in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan centres.