The government has equipped 104 hospitals with a surveillance system to diagnose hepatitis, while 150 more hospitals would have this facility by the year-end. This was stated by Prime Minister's Programme for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis Manager Dr Sharif Ahmad while speaking at a media orientation function here on Monday.
Citing 220 studies conducted at the premier health institutes, he said hepatitis "B" and "C" was prevalent among three to four percent and five to six percent of the population respectively.
According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) study, he said that one person in Pakistan received 13 injections per year, the highest in the world, which was stated to be the prime reason for the disease.
About 25 percent of the hepatitis "C" patients did not need injections, as the disease subsided itself, he said, adding the patients should undergo certain tests before taking injectable medication. Furthermore, studies had proved that 60 percent of the injection were effective globally.
He said that PM's programme, in collaboration with the Pakistan Medical and Research Council, was collecting 49,000 blood samples to ascertain the magnitude of the disease. He said that seven satellite laboratories were being established for testing water quality, besides installation of 148 triple-chambered incinerators to put brakes on the ailment.
"Blood-borne types of hepatitis "B" and "C" are caused due to re-use of syringes, unscreened blood transfusion, piercing ears and nose with contaminated needles, shaving at the barbers' shops," he said. Dr Sharif Ahmad said that health workers were more vulnerable to hepatitis, saying that about 10 percent of the health workers in the Federal government hospitals had recently been tested positive for "C" type of the blood-borne disease.
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