Vaccination centre on the anvil to combat hepatitis

Minister said hepatitis was spreading rapidly and around 15 million people were carriers of Hep B or C in Pakistan

RAWALPINDI:

Punjab Caretaker Minister for Health, Dr Jamal Nasir, has said that a model vaccination centre was being set up in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to eliminate hepatitis in the Rawalpindi district.

He was addressing the launching of the Local Hepatitis Elimination & Prevention (LHEAP) programme, developed in collaboration with the US-based task force for global health, at the Rawalpindi Arts Council on Monday.

He said that four union councils (UCs) of the garrison city, which had been declared high-risk UCs for liver disease, would be screened under the LHEAP project. The process had already begun in UC-10, 11, 14 and 15 of the city which comprised around 100,000 residents.

The minister said hepatitis was spreading rapidly and around 15 million people, or one in 13, were carriers of the Hepatitis B or C virus in Pakistan (with a 10-11% ratio) and the number was increasing by 0.5 million per annum.

Under the programme, the hepatitis teams would visit door-to-door to ensure the testing of residents. Moreover, free-of-charge diagnosis, vaccination and treatment would be provided to the patients.

He further said the hepatitis would be completely eradicated from these four UCs and plans were underway to extend the same model to the entire district.

Moreover, he said the provision of modern health facilities to the citizens was the priority of the government and all resources were being used in that regard.

Furthermore, he emphasised the need to aware public of the causes of hepatitis.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2023.