KARACHI, Jan 2: Aggressive marketing techniques on the part of national and multi-national pharmaceutical companies is creating unnecessary fear among the public regarding different diseases.

Doctors talking to APP on Thursday specifically referred to the pseudo public awareness messages about Hepatitis issued by many drug and vaccine distributors, retailers and manufacturers

“The diseases is being constantly, though wrongly, cited to be synonym to liver cancer,” Dr. Syed Abdul Mujib said, adding that as a matter of fact it took quite a long period and that it was only in case of severe negligence on the part of patients and doctors that HVC might turn into cirrhosis coupled with related complications.

He further clarified that in 15 percent of Hepatitis C instances the virus was simply benign while in other 15 per cent cases it rarely caused any severe impact.

For 70 percent of the remaining instances the ailment, in its initial stages, could be treated through proper medical interventions, he said urging that prevention is better than cure.

Apart from causing great mental agony to the public, the tendency to exaggerate the intensity of any disease prevalence in the country also causes public to be trapped by quacks and most of them buy spurious drugs.

Dr Mujib was equally supported by Dr Shahzad Hasan who said that despite the fact that a child once inflicted with polio required no drug therapy but immediate rehabilitative support, there was a dearth of marketeers and retailers making false claim regarding efficacy of drugs, including multi vitamin compounds, good enough to cure the crippling disease.

Many doctors also referred to the fact that cough and cold syrups, available in abundance in the local markets, were often projected to be equally good to cure ailments like asthma.

The authorities concerned have been urged to ensure that promotional activities of pharmaceutical companies and retailers of medicines and drugs are kept under a strict vigil, protecting people from distress.—APP