VEHARI, Aug 8: Hepatitis B and C cases are on the rise in the district owing mainly to unscrupulous use of syringes by quacks and unregistered medical practitioners, and shaving blades by barbers, doctors say.

Dr Maqsood Chaudhry of the DHQ hospital told this correspondent that during the last six months the blood transfusion centre had conducted blood screening for hepatitis B and C of 1,440 people who have the history of donating blood and frequently visiting the barbers. Hardly 10 per cent of the visitors were found using contaminated water.

He said 76 cases of hepatitis B and 84 of hepatitis C were detected during screening. The negative cases were, however, advised to get vaccinated as a precaution.

Meanwhile, a social welfare organisation which had set up a blood-screening camp a few days ago said the incidence of hepatitis B and C could be controlled by establishing more camps to provide proper information and timely diagnosis.

It urged the government to bear the treatment expenses of patients from the Zakat and Baitul Maal funds because the poor could not afford to pay for the treatment.

The organisation says it is planning to establish free blood-screening camps in small towns like Tibba Sultanpur, Luddan, Machiwal, Thingi, Karampur and Gagoo where the residents have been consuming contaminated water.

It says the recent results obtained from Muslim Town area showed that out of the 60 patients, 21 were reported hepatitis C positive and five hepatitis B positive.

A survey conducted by Dawn reveals that over 1,500 quacks are running their clinics with the connivance of the district health department officials in Vehari. They use glass syringes and already-used disposable syringes.

Complaints are that substandard test kits for hepatitis B and C are available in the market at a price between Rs30 and Rs40 at the most.

According to some people, many cases which were reported positive with the use of these kits were later reported negative when the people went through the blood-screening process in a Multan health facility.

A visit to various shops revealed that most of these kits bore the inscriptions of made in USA, Germany and Japan, though they were actually Chinese stuff.

EDO (Health) Dr Pervez Haider had not much to say but he made a pledge that he would take stock of the situation and order appropriate action.