A two-day international conference on lung diseases begins at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Dhaka today. Bangladesh Lung Foundation organises the conference with the aim to introduce latest treatment facilities to the physicians and initiate an interaction between renowned pulmologists with young ones. Pulmologists from USA, Europe, Australia and Asia will present their research papers in the conference, said the organisers at a news conference at a city hotel on Tuesday. Among others, the briefing was addressed by the foundation president, Rashidul Hassan, secretary general, Md Ali Hossain, treasurer, Asif Mujtaba Mahmud, and international affairs secretary, Kazi Saifuddin Bennor. There has been an alarming increase in the rate of respiratory diseases in Bangladesh, which is already being menaced by various health problems. A recent survey reveals that in our country about one-third of the patients, being attended by the primary care physicians, are suffering from respiratory ailment. These patients constitute 22 per cent of all patients seeking treatment in the outpatient departments of the medical college hospitals, they said.