Speakers at a seminar have said that hepatitis B and C are affecting around 1.2 million people every year in Pakistan and there is a need to wage a war against this deadly disease which has become more dangerous than cancer. They attributed high hepatitis prevalence rates in Pakistan to the lack of proper preventive measures, saying that an aggressive national immunisation programme was the most effective way of controlling the spread of hepatitis.
The speakers said the reason for the spread of the disease was lack of awareness, self-medication, illegal practice of non-qualified medical practitioners who use single syringe for many patients, unhygienic instruments of barbers and dentists, contaminated water and food.
The seminar was held in Department of Physiology, University of Sindh Jamshoro in an attempt to create awareness amongst the masses. The seminar was followed by a 3-day free hepatitis screening camp that organised on the campus to test blood of students and general public for hepatitis B and C.
Speaking at the concluding ceremony of the camp, Professor Dr Hidayatullah Mahesar announced to organise another 2-day free hepatitis screening camp for women at under graduate girls' hostel of the University of Sindh to diagnose the female students and the ladies of the local areas of Jamshoro and Kotri from October 25 to 26, 2014.
He said that that preventive measures included screening of all blood donors and testing of all donated blood for hepatitis B and C; testing of all organ donors for hepatitis; proper sterilisation of equipment and safe waste disposal practices at all public and private hospitals, clinics (both medical and dental) and laboratories; safe and hygienic practices at renal dialysis and haemo-dialysis units, beauty parlours/barber shops, and acupuncture, ear piercing, tattooing and cosmetic surgery establishments; precautions by healthcare workers to avoid occupational exposure to hepatitis infection; and the banning of all quacks whose medical practices are instrumental in transmitting diseases like hepatitis.
He was of the view that it was necessary for the patients to get the tests done as they enabled the physicians to know whether the virus count was increasing or decreasing in the patients' bodies. "If the facility of free screening of hepatitis and its cure may be available at the public hospitals, it would help the patients allowing them to spend the saved money on their nutrition," he said and added that the test results of the private laboratories were not very reliable despite spending a heavy amount.
Professor Dr Ali Muhammad Soomro, the chairman of the department said: Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is often recommended to monitor effectiveness of a patient's treatment. This test is also useful for patients who test positive for HCV Abs. He said results for this test were quantitative, meaning they would provide a numerical result for the level of the virus in a person's body.