MULTAN, Oct 22: Forty patients have been registered with the Nishtar Hospital for six-month long free-of-cost treatment of hepatitis C, officials said on Sunday. Punjab government has sent injections and capsules to the government hospitals, particularly the teaching hospitals, to provide treatment to people suffering from hepatitis C.

Prof Dr Abdul Hameed Anjum, the head of general ward No 10, has been deputed to run the scheme at Nishtar. The 40 patients registered with the hospital have been given medicine for one month.

They will undergo a blood test after a month to help doctors see how the body was responding to the treatment and to suggest the next course of action.

Sources said medicines for some 200 patients were being given to the hospitals per year, however, Nishtar Hospital officials said, there was no ceiling or upper limit and they were getting the medicines for all the patients who have been enlisted.

Doctors have advised the patients who could not bear the heavy cost of treatment due to meager financial resources should meet Dr Hameed Anjum or the doctors and staff deputed there in ward No 10. — APP