January 07, 2009	Wednesday	Muharram 09, 1430

KARACHI, Jan 6: The Sindh health department will start distribution of medicines, including vaccines, worth Rs450 million among the public sector hospitals across the province from Friday. The medicines will be provided free of cost to needy patients. The move is part of an initiative aimed at ensuring prevention and treatment of hepatitis B and C. An official statement issued here on Tuesday said that the initiative was taken on the directives of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah. A spokesman for the health department said that about 8,200 hepatitis B and C patients had so far reported at different government hospitals in Sindh and were waiting for the medicines. He said treatment facilities for such patients would also be available at these hospitals from Jan 12.

The health department has also procured two Polymerisation Chain Reaction (PCR) test machines for the diagnosis of hepatitis B and C for Larkana and Mirpurkhas districts. The machines were available at hospitals in Karachi and Hyderabad, he added.—APP