Every fifth person in Sindh dying of viral hepatitis: experts

Every fifth death in Sindh is being caused by hepatitis B and C or their complications where 20 to 25 per cent of the population is infected with the deadly viral disease, said consultant hepatologists and gastroenterologists said on Tuesday.

In some areas of Sindh, including Gadap, Kathore and coastal areas, around 30 to 35 per cent of people have been found infected with viral hepatitis, they said while speaking at a consultative meeting.

The meeting was held at a local hotel to observe World Digestive Health Day 2018 (WDHD 18) by Pakistan GI and Liver Diseases (PGLDS). Leading gastroenterologists and hepatologists said it was estimated that at least 20 million people in Pakistan were infected with hepatitis B and C, which amounted to 10 per cent of the population, but in Sindh, the ratio of people with viral hepatitis was very high.

“The World Health Organisation has set the target of elimination of hepatitis B and C from the world by 2030, but keeping in view the state of affairs in Pakistan, especially in Sindh, it seems to be a far cry. The government and private sector would have to make collaborative efforts on a war footing to contain and eradicate this menace as it is easy to screen, diagnose and treat viral hepatitis these days,” said Dr Shahid Ahmed, consultant gastroenterologist and patron of the PGLDS, in his presentation.

Dr Shahid Ahmed maintained that thousands of people were annually dying in the prime years of their age in Sindh, whose lives could be saved by proper screening and treatment, which, he said, was now very cost-effective, easy and in the financial range of most people in Pakistan.

“Most of the patients of viral hepatitis never know about their disease until it gets into chronic stage and badly damages their livers. If screened and diagnosed earlier, these patients can be properly treated and viruses of hepatitis B and C can be eliminated from their bodies.”

Dr Ahmed offered complete support for the PGLDS for the elimination of hepatitis B and C from Sindh, saying the Sindh health department could seek their collaboration in the elimination of the disease. “We have hundreds of consultants and postgraduates as our members who are working in entire Sindh. They can play an active role in containing this epidemic and its eradication from the province.”

PGLDS President Dr Sajjad Jamil from Liaquat National Hospital (LNH) said Pakistan had the second highest number of viral hepatitis patients after China. He added that China reduced the number of hepatitis B patients to only one per cent through affective vaccination, but in Pakistan nobody knew the actual number of patients.

“Screening, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis B and C is now very easy and cost-effective in Pakistan. Tablets are available which can cure this disease by up to 99 per cent while these drugs also have very little side effects,” he said and added that the real challenge was knowing the actual number of infected people and persuading them to get treated.

Dr Lubna Kamanai, another expert gastroenterologist from the LNH and vice president of the PGLDS, demanded from the government to seek from citizens a hepatitis screening certificate at the time of issuing them with the Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) so that the government could know the actual number of patients infected with the viral hepatitis in the country.

She also asked the government to arrange free of charge the screening of hepatitis B and C in Pakistan, saying that in most cases, people were not aware that they were infected with the deadly viral disease till they became its chronic patients.

The registrar of Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Dr Amanullah Abbasi, claimed that the provincial government had not wound up its Hepatitis Control Program, saying the department had involved Aga Khan Hospital and other NGOs to work for the elimination of the disease from the province.

The consultative meeting was also addressed by Sindh compensation commissioner Syed Farrukh Humyun Zaidi, Dr Shoaib Siddiqui, Dr Hafeezullah Shaikh, Dr Mukesh Kumar, Dr Nazish Butt, Dr Shahid Mahmood, Dr Rajesh Kumar and Dr Arif. A large number of postgraduate and medical students also attended the event.