Spreading fast: Lack of treatment drug leaves patients helpless against hepatitis

Interferon vials worth Rs250 million were purchased for hospitals but were found to be substandard.

PESHAWAR:

The severe forms of hepatitis can be potentially fatal and those in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa suffering from the disease remain helpless against it due to an acute shortage of interferon, the recognised pharmaceutical therapy for hepatitis B and C.

According to a K-P health department official, the shortage of interferon has created several health problems for patients.

The official, requesting anonymity, said last year interferon vials worth Rs250 million were purchased for hospitals and health care centres, but were found to be substandard when tested at a private laboratory.

On February 6, 2013, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) took suo motu notice of the purchase and the supply of such a large amount of substandard injections. The then Anti-Corruption Establishment director, Syed Fayyaz Ali Shah, submitted in his preliminary enquiry report on March 13, 2013, that the substandard interferon was suspected to have caused the deaths of six patients.

At the time, another official of the health department had said all stocks in the province’s public hospitals were seized and patients had to purchase the vials from stores. The official had said that people who could not afford the treatment would have no problem, but those who could not would die without having access to it.

The shortage of the drug still persists to this day.

According to data available with the K-P health department, the number of hepatitis B and C patients in 2008-2009 was 6,873 out of which 742 suffered from the B variation of the virus. The numbers saw a marked increase the following year as 12,014 patients were diagnosed with hepatitis B and C. In 2012-2013, patients almost tripled with around 10,000 of the estimated total of 47,000 suffering from hepatitis B.

The numbers continued to rise in 2013-2014 with around 57,000 hepatitis B and C patients. An estimated 10,000 suffered from hepatitis B during this period.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) Chief Pharmacist Jalil Anwar said around 10 to 15 people visit the hospital on a daily basis to enquire about the medicine but are told that the hospital pharmacy cannot provide it. He confirmed that a number of patients have contracted the disease across the province due to the lack of interferon.

The chief pharmacist said it was crucial to provide people with the drug because many patients could not afford the prolonged treatment of the liver infection.

A hepatitis C patient, for example, is required to take an injection every six months, which costs Rs5,000, along with follow-up visits to the doctor.

K-P Hepatitis Prevention and Control Programme Assistant Director Dr Kaleemullah Khan said authorities were trying to purchase hepatitis treatment and prevention drugs as soon as possible. He claimed the results of the tests, which declared interferon substandard in 2013, were false and were conducted at a local laboratory. He added the same drug was tested in Islamabad and its quality was found to be up to the mark.

He acknowledged that patients were suffering due to the shortage of the medicine, but assured it would soon be available at hospitals and health care centres across the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2014.