Govt decides to conduct Hepatitis C screening across Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Federal Government on Tuesday decided to conduct Hepatitis C screening across Pakistan, ARY News reported.

According to the details, the government has made the decision to conduct Hepatitis C screening at the national level in order to prevent spreading of the disease.

Sources revealed that Ministry of National Health developed a plan for the screening of citizens for Hepatitis C has been prepared. The program will be initiated under the name of Prime Minister Hepatitis C Program.

A five-year PC-1 has been prepared for the Hepatitis C program, with a proposed allocation of Rs 500 million in the budget for the PM Hepatitis C Program.

Various options were considered for funding the Hepatitis C screening program, with half of the funding to be provided by the federal government and the remaining half by the provinces.

READ: Health Ministry reports 40 new HIV cases in Pakistan

Efforts will be made to engage international donors for the PM Hepatitis C Program.

Sources state that the screening will be conducted for half the population over a period of five years. Hepatitis C testing will be conducted for individuals over the age of 12, and screening will be carried out through rapid diagnostic tests. In the case of a positive test, the individual will be vaccinated against the desease.

According to sources, the treatment of individuals will continue until the eradication of Hepatitis C, and the Hepatitis C screening and treatment for citizens will be provided free of cost.

It should be noted that the Prime Minister Hepatitis C Program was discontinued in 2015. The aim of the National Hepatitis C Screening Plan is to prevent the spread of the disease and reduce the mortality rate.

On the other hand, Dr. Haider Abbasi, a gastroenterologist, states that 5% of the country’s population is affected by Hepatitis C, with the number of Hepatitis C patients exceeding 8 million.

Dr. Haider states that the cases of Hepatitis C are primarily concentrated in Sindh and Balochistan, and the disease spreads through unnecessary injections, contaminated syringes, faulty surgical instruments, and unhygienic barber tools.