PESHAWAR, Aug 6: At least 50 health professionals in the city hospitals have been diagnosed positive for hepatitis B and C in the last six months because of unhygienic conditions and failure on the part of the hospitals management to adopt preventive measures in this regard, doctors and health workers told Dawn.

“At least 11 paramedics of the Hayatabad Medical Complex have been diagnosed positive either for Hepatitis B or C in the past six months. The number of infected people may rise in case all the employees are tested,” said a doctor at the hospital.

According to him, health workers were at the risk of getting infected with different germs because there was no proper system at the hospital to protect them against pathogens. Surgeons, laboratory and blood bank technicians and operation theatre assistants have been working in a dangerous environment as they frequently come in contact with infected blood.

Similarly, 39 employees of the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) are being treated for hepatitis at private clinics in Peshawar and Islamabad.

Doctors argue that health-care workers are particularly at risk of acquiring infection because any abrasion on skin provided a potential route to virus and bacteria.

There is no vaccination programme to test these workers for infected diseases and they are diagnosed only when blood samples are taken from them for any other diseases. Non-availability of surgical gloves, masks, etc., has put them at the razor’s edge.

To name a few, senior surgeons Prof Dr Rahim Gul, Prof Dr Mumtaz Khattak and Dr Shabana have died of Hepatitis-C, whereas, Prof Dr Tahir Hasan is under treatment in the UK. All these doctors got the infection from needle injuries while operating the infected patients.

“At least 30 doctors have been visiting my clinic for Hepatitis-C, and all of them acquired the infection from patients at the operation theatres,” said a local hepatologist.

According to him, there should be a sterilization system based on WHO’s guidelines of standard of prevention of infection disease to save health workers from infections.

The Central Sterilization System Departments at the city hospitals are being run by contractors with little or no check by the hospital administrators.

The problem is further aggravated by the fact that there is no system for the surgeons to determine whether or not the gowns, gloves and equipment they are using is sterilized.

The cost of a test for Hepatitis B & C is around Rs1,000, due to which most of the hospitals avoid to get their employees tested for the infection. However, the same hospitals charge Rs625 to screen blood even if the blood donor is their employee.

The government has installed incinerators for proper disposal of hospital waste at the three teaching hospitals with each costing Rs3.2 million. These incinerators are partially functional.

However, use of old syringes, which is stated to be the main cause of hepatitis spread, is still in vogue. Garbage collectors still collect used syringes from hospitals waste which are bought by dealers who resale them without sterilizing.