Meeting on Hepatitis awareness

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar chaired a meeting on Hepatitis Free Punjab on Tuesday. During the meeting, the decision was made to speed up hepatitis awareness campaigns and set up free hepatitis prevention camps across the province. The governor said that to eradicate hepatitis and provide free medicines to hepatitis patients, funds of over Rs1.5 billion have been allocated by Punjab government, in cooperation with non-governmental organisations. “It is necessary to provide clean drinking water to the people to prevent fatal diseases like hepatitis and we will deliver on our promise to provide the water through Punjab AAB Pak Authority.” Members of health department briefed that under the hepatitis control programme, an awareness campaign is underway across Punjab. A member said that more than 55,000 beauty salons and barber shops have been registered and they will be given training on health hygiene and how to provide services as per health standards. The governor added that over 70% of diseases are caused by contaminated water, poor quality blood transfusions, unhygienic surgical tools and razors used in barber shops. “By taking preventive measures, hepatitis and other fatal diseases can be prevented.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2019.