KARACHI, April 28: A number of patients registered under Prime Minister’s Programme for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre are faced with a break in the treatment due to short supply of medicine, said a source in the hospital.
It is learnt that the JPMC centre established under the PM programme at JPMC, so far, after scanning and confirmation of Hepatitis-C cases, has registered about 700 patients who deserved a free-of-cost interferon therapy.
Islamabad provides the medicines to the JPMC centre from time to time on need basis. The centre, only set up for Hepatitis-C treatment facility under the PM programme in the city, started functioning in July, 2006 and so far 135 patients have completed the treatment process comprising 72 interferon injections and other medication for six months.
The centre could not hand over the medicine in question to a good number of deserving patients who had already started the treatment process, as there was a delay in supply of injections for some time.
According to the source, the problem started in February and persisted till late, and as such patients, who were being administered interferon thrice a week either at the centre or at their homes, had to either arrange the medicine on their own or sit helpless, missing a timely injection.
Sometimes patients quarrelled with the doctors in Ward-7 of the JPMC where the centre exists for want of medicine as they thought that any gap in the interferon administration would either cast negative impact on their health or will zero the whole treatment they received so far. It is likely that patients will have to wait for another a few days, added the source.
However, when contacted the focal person for the PM’s programme at JPMC, Prof S M Munir, told Dawn that there had been a gap in the supply of medicine to patients for some weeks, but now situation was under control.
We have now received another package of medicines in question from Islamabad and as such those already on the treatment list are being accommodated on their turn, Prof Munir added, saying that some of the patients who could not purchase the medicine from the market were extended some philanthropic supports on the initiatives of the hospital in the meantime.
He said that there were about 300 persons who were yet to get the treatment for the first time at the JPMC centre.
