Rawalpindi: 16.1% of randomly selected people tested positive for hepatitis B, C

[Naveed Yaseen]

Muhammad Qasim
Rawalpindi
A free screening programme for the detection of Hepatitis B and C, conducted in Rawalpindi, has yielded alarming results, as 16.1 per cent of the total cases tested from general public were found affected with the hepatitis virus.

Pakistan Green Task Force (PGTF) and Citi Lab jointly organised the programme in which almost 2,729 persons have, so far, been screened for hepatitis. Most of the cases visited the free camps to get themselves screened for hepatitis for the first time.

Under the programme, the free screening camps were established at random at six different locations in the city including on Murree Road opposite Rawalpindi General Hospital (renamed as Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Hospital) from August 9 to 11, Anjuman-e-Faiz-ul-Islam, Faizabad (Apna Ghar school for orphans) on August 12, in a campus of Anjuman-e-Faiz-ul-Islam in Mandra on August 18, Government Post Graduate Degree College, Asghar Mall on August 19 and Government College for Women in B-Block, Satellite Town, on August 21.

Of the 2,729 persons tested for hepatitis through the screening method, 321 were tested positive for hepatitis C and 59 positive for hepatitis B while four cases were found affected with both hepatitis B & C.

“The results of screening are shocking with 13.9 per cent affected with hepatitis C and 2.2 per cent positive for hepatitis B among the general public who went under screening for the first time and considered themselves completely fit otherwise,” said President PGTF Dr Jamal Nasir while talking to ‘The News’ Monday.

He added that at the time of planning the free screening programme, the organisers did not expect such a high rate of prevalence of hepatitis among the general public, as a number of programmes on awareness among public regarding prevention and control of hepatitis have already been launched.

Hepatitis can be defined as the inflammation and necrosis (affected cells becoming oxygen deprived) of the liver cells by the action of viruses named Kypfer cells. Hepatitis is either acute self-limited, persistent or recurrent that causes chronic inflammation and leads to hepatic cirrhosis, which is the cancer of liver. It mostly leads to death but the stage comes rarely in patients who take proper treatment.

Studies reveal that there are 7.5 million patients of Hepatitis C in Pakistan and the number is continuously on the rise while about six million people are infected with Hepatitis B in the country. It is assumed that the number of persons dying of AIDS within a year around the globe is almost equivalent to those dying of Hepatitis C in a single day in Pakistan. Also, the morbidity level, complications and pain faced by a patient of Hepatitis B or C is much more intensified than that of an AIDS patient.

Professor of Medicine at Rawalpindi Medical College Dr Shoaib Shafi, who is also the PGTF chairman, has planned to test a total of 10,000 cases under the free screening programme. “On August 26 (Tuesday) and 27 (Wednesday), a free screening camp will be established at the office of Rawalpindi Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education while from August 28 to 30, the camp will be set up at Capital Development Authority’s office in collaboration with the CDA employees union,” said Dr Shoaib while talking to ‘The News’ Monday.

He added that the free screening programme would not only benefit the general public but would also help the government in devising a better strategy for prevention and control of the disease.

Dr Jamal informed ‘The News’ that the PGTF has already planned the establishment of free screening camps for hepatitis for journalists and newspaper employees belonging to Rawalpindi and Islamabad in collaboration with the Newspapers Workers Organisation (NWO). “The officials of NWO have asked us to set up a free camp at Rawalpindi Press Club on August 28 and 29,” he said adding that however, the final date for the camp would be announced within a day or two. “We will also set up a free screening camp at Islamabad Press Club,” he said.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=132098