Damaging disease: Hepatitis continues to ruin people’s lives in Punjab

Officials say there are 80,000 patients, medics claim actual figure is higher.

LAHORE: More than 80,000 people around Punjab have contracted hepatitis due to their unhygienic lifestyle, contaminated drinking water and involvement in illicit relations.

Director Punjab Hepatitis Control Programme Dr Zahida Sarwar revealed this information while talking to The Express Tribune on Thursday.

She said the Punjab government was actively collecting data from all segments of society and found that truck/bus drivers as well as cleaners were highly prone to the disease.

“Since it has been confirmed that 80,000 people have fallen victim, the government has already purchased medicines for those registered with the hepatitis control programme,” she said.



The doctor further stated the government is taking extraordinary measures to counter the disease. “We intend to initiate an awareness programme to counter the spread. Now medicines are available at all teaching hospitals around Punjab,” she claimed.

Spreading fast

Nawaz Sharif Hospital at Yakki Gate is located in a densely populated area of the city where people from old and traditional Lahore get free medicines and medical treatment. It is located just a stone’s throw away from the city’s Larri Adda and large numbers of patients, mostly labourers, come for treatment.

A doctor, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune that every second person is registered as a hepatitis patient in the hospital.

He also rejected the figure of 80,000 patients, saying the government is actually hiding data. “People also get disease by getting their hair cut with unsterilised tools and drinking contaminated water,” he said.

Referring to the trucker community, he said they are most at risk. “There is a need to chalk out an extensive awareness campaign for the rural areas and working classes, otherwise the whole community will suffer.

Screenings

Another disease which is spreading fast is AIDS. To counter this, the Provincial AIDS Control Programme, (PACP) is conducting a month-long testing and screening campaign of trucks and bus drivers. Camps had have already been established in 11 districts including Lahore, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad, Okara, Multan, Muzaffargarh, DG Khan, Rahimyar Khan and Sadiqabad.

The PACP Director Dr Adnan Zafar Khan said the programme is providing free of cost medication, treatment and counseling services to all HIV and hepatitis patients in Punjab.

“I know the situation is alarming and we are trying to reach out to marginalised groups to ensure no new people are infected with HIV or Hepatitis,” he said.

Punjab Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Khawaja Imran Nazir on Thursday also distributed free hepatitis-C medicines to truck/bus drivers and cleaners at Sabzazar Truck Adda on Multan Road.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th, 2017.