Govt to withhold salaries of employees refusing 'This test'

ISLAMABAD: The government has made Hepatitis C screening mandatory for employees of the Ministry of National Health Services, with the salaries of those who refuse to undergo the test to be withheld, Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal said on Tuesday.

Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday launched mandatory Hepatitis C screening for government employees in Islamabad under the Prime Minister’s Hepatitis C Elimination Programme.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony in Islamabad, the minister said the screening programme would be implemented in phases, with the federal capital being covered in the first phase.

He said Hepatitis C screening was mandatory for everyone in Pakistan aged 12 and above.

“Today, we have made Hepatitis C screening mandatory for employees of the Ministry of National Health Services, and we are writing to other ministries as well for the same purpose,” Mustafa Kamal said.

He said employees who failed to undergo the mandatory test would have their salaries withheld.

The minister said he had also undergone a Hepatitis C test, which returned negative.

Mustafa Kamal said the government was taking steps to expand Hepatitis C screening across the country as part of its efforts to eliminate the disease.

He said 17 free Hepatitis C screening points had been established in Islamabad, while screening facilities would also be expanded through private hospitals. The government would provide screening kits to private hospitals to facilitate testing, he added.

The minister said the government was writing to all federal ministries to arrange Hepatitis C screening for their employees and would seek to make testing mandatory for all government employees, including ministers.

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He said more than 10 million people in Pakistan were living with Hepatitis C, describing the disease as a major public health challenge.

Under the Prime Minister’s Hepatitis C Elimination Programme, patients diagnosed with the disease would receive free treatment, he said. The government has said the programme aims to screen more than 164 million people nationwide and eliminate Hepatitis C as a public health threat by 2030.

Mustafa Kamal said Hepatitis C screening was already under way in Islamabad and Gilgit-Baltistan, while the programme would gradually be expanded nationwide.

He said screening would also be made mandatory for people deported to Pakistan and that every citizen would eventually have access to Hepatitis C screening.

The minister said screening records were being linked with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), adding that the government planned to make Hepatitis C testing a requirement for obtaining a national identity card and for people travelling abroad.

He identified unsafe blood transfusions as one of the major sources of Hepatitis C transmission and urged citizens to make use of the free screening facilities.