Hepatitis under control with comprehensive initiative by government

Less then three percent of total population of the country is hardly aware of the fact that they are suffering from inflammation of liver, the disease commonly known as "Hepatitis", health sources said.
Media have played a commendable role in creating awareness with the active collaboration of the government, donor agencies including US Aid, World Health Organisations (WHO) and others.
In the late nineties the present government had accepted the challenge of carrying out massive survey, mapped out a plan and evolved a concrete strategy under guidance of the President General Pervez Musharraf who directed the Health Ministry to initiate comprehensive and concrete work in this direction.
Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) sources and Society of GO (Gastro enteritis) have put the population affected with Hepatitis around seven to nine million till date.
The above figure includes Hepatitis patients of various range including A, B, and C, C has been rated as dangerous one but can be treated if patients reach qualified GI specialists well in time.
Specialists have attributed blood transfusion and re-use of needles, root cause of Hepatitis C, the blood-borne disease that damages liver to the greater extent. A and B are due to consumption of impure drinking water. Another credit goes to the present government that introduced bloodscreening before the blood transfusion which substantially discourages professional blood donors that comprised majority of drug addicts.
Furthermore, blood testing was also mandatory to ensure provision of "infection-free" blood to the patients on dialysis. "It is not necessary that liver should be damaged in every case while on the other hand, only ten to fifteen percent of liver is affected of Hepatitis C patients purely depending on age", observed Chairman Sheik Zayed Medical Hospital and Research Complex Professor Anwaar A Khan.
He pointed out that it was surprising that patients suffering Hepatitis are diagnosed accidentally or from the blood donors who approach hospitals to donate blood to their relatives and above all most of them have no symptom of Hepatitis, he added.
Majority of patients in Pakistan are diagnosed accidentally and most of them are blood donors. Most patients don't have any obvious symptoms and over 90 to 95 percent of the people suffering from hepatitis C don't have jaundice.
Professor Arif Qayum Khan, another authority on GI said seventy to seventy five percent of patients suffering from Hepatitis C have no jaundice. He said it is only Serological test that can help diagnose whether patient was suffering from Hepatitis C or the virus was positive or active, he added.
Professor Javed Akram, Head of the Department King Edward Medical College University (KEMC) rejected the general impression that patients generally die of Hepatitis and clarified that seven out of eight patients suffering from Hepatitis A and B and cured with the passage of time.
He further said majority of the patients even unaware of the fact that they are carrying the dreaded virus of Hepatitis C and denied that biopsy, the most modern method to diagnose Hepatitis, spreads the disease. "Biopsies are generally conducted to determine gravity of the disease," Professor Qayum said.
Pharmaceutical firms of advanced nations continued research in their respective field and managed to manufacture proven drugs to help eradicate the disease which include drugs like Interferon with Ribvirin, the drug that offers six-months comprehensive course to combat the disease.
"On the directive of the President, the present government lifted duty on imported drugs to facilitate a common patient suffering from Hepatitis of various range", Federal Health Minister Muhammad Naseer Khan told this correspondent.
The Local Government System was revived in Pakistan in 2000- 2001 that further streamlined the health facilities, with special thrust on combating Tuberculosis, Polio among children under-five year of age and the Hepatitis.
Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi ordered complete overhauling of the health sector and introduced health reform that not only benefited doctors, para-medics but also patients to the greater extent, said Punjab Health Minister Muhammad Iqbal.
He said survey was conducted to determine exact number of Hepatitis patients down to Tehsil level where situation was not healthy where majority of the people were suffering from water-borne diseases who easily fell prey to quacks network that present government smashed most effectively.