ISLAMABAD: Talking at an event held to observe World Hepatitis Day and to raise awareness about the illness on Thursday, Dr Waseem Khawaja of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) said eight percent of the country’s population is suffering from hepatitis.

“Some 150,000 people across the country die from complications from hepatitis B and C,” he said, adding that12,000 patients were diagnosed with hepatitis C last year.

There are five types of hepatitis, named from A to E with hepatitis C being the ninth leading cause of death across the world and 350 million people suffering from the disease.

Pims doctor says govt hospitals do not have testing machines

“Children should be vaccinated against the disease. Using sterilised instruments can help avoid the illness. Unscreened blood should not be transfused and disposable instruments should be used in beauty salons and acupuncture parlours,” he said.

A doctor at Pims said Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Genotyping are the tests conducted in order to diagnose the illness and for determining the length of treatment.

“After treatment is administered, a special machine is required in order to ascertain whether the treatment was successful, but state run hospitals in the federal capital do not have these machines. There is one such machine in Pims but it is only used by the HIV department. People have to pay between Rs14,000 and 20,000 for being tested at private hospitals,” he said.

At a seminar at Shifa International Hospital, Dr Mohammad Salih said 700,000 people die from liver diseases contracted due to hepatitis C complications across the world and that 686,000 people die from hepatitis B complications, including cirrhosis and liver cancer.

According to World Health Organisation statistics, an estimated 240 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis B and between 130 and 150 million have hepatitis C, he said.

Most patients in Asia Pacific acquire the infection through transfusion and transplant, Dr Salih said, adding that babies born to long-term carriers, individuals with multiple sexual partners, intravenous drug users, health care workers, prisoners and other institutionalised people are also at a greater risk of contracting the illness.

He said fatigue, vascular spiders, an enlarged or shrunken liver, an enlarged spleen, clubbed fingers and bruising are some of the symptoms of liver diseases.

“Getting vaccinated is the best way to prevent the disease and an early diagnosis of hepatitis is very important for treating it and avoiding liver failure,” he said.

Pakistan has been put on the list of red zone countries as more than 15 million people in the country are suffering from hepatitis C, said Prof Dr Mohammad Umar from the Principal Rawalpindi Medical College when addressing participants of an awareness walk.

The walk started from the Liver and Stomach Centre and ended at the New Campus at RMC, Holy Family Hospital.

He said hepatitis B and C are contracted after drinking contaminated water and that people should make sure they water they are drinking is safe for consumption.

“The disease can also be transmitted when sharing shaving machines, tooth brushes and via blood transfusions,” he added.

He said that a tablet has now been made which clears blood of hepatitis B and C bacteria.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2016