FAISALABAD:
“According to the World Health Organisation, Pakistan is ranked among the top countries affected by hepatitis,” says Dr Zahid Yaseen Hashmi, principal of the Punjab Medical College (PMC).
He says nearly 15 million people suffer from the fatal disease in Pakistan.
Hashmi points to a rapid increase in hepatitis cases in Faisalabad, saying nearly 4,202 patients died at public hospitals of Faisalabad last year. He says most people in Faisalabad live in congested localities with inadequate supply of safe drinking water and poor sanitary conditions. He says presence of industrial units have created a polluted environment. He says water supply in most localities of in Faisalabad is unsafe. Hashmi says one of four persons suffers from hepatitis in Faisalabad. “More than half of the residents of Tandlianwala have been affected by the disease,” he says. “Mamu Kanjan and Sammundri have been affected the most. Surveys have shown that 26 per cent patients from these areas died. In Chak Jhumra, the percentage was between 10 and 20 per cent,” he says.
In Jhang, the fatality ratio has been recorded at 20 per cent. “Two decades ago, most of the people vulnerable to hepatitis were above the age of 50. These days, 30-year-olds are also susceptible,” he says.
Hashmi, who is also running a Liver Centre in at a DHQ hospital, says 22 per cent of Egypt’s population suffers from hepatitis. He says in China, 3.2 per cent of the population has been affected.
Hashmi says at present, more than 30 per cent beds in all teaching hospitals of Faisalabad are reserved for hepatitis patients. He says in Faisalabad, 23 per cent of the population suffers from hepatitis, of which four per cent people have hepatitis B. He says nearly 5,000 people die every year in Faisalabad of hepatitis.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2014.
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The re-use of syringes and blood-tainted medical equipment is a major factor in the spread of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.
Corruption is a major impediment in the provision of these services as it involves the use of official funds. A corrupt government will not provide the disposable syringes and dental equipment needed to stop the spread of hepatitis. Such a government will also fail to take notice of private medical stores that are supplying reused and blood-tainted syringes and medical equipment.
This is how corruption is literally killing the people of Pakistan.