KARACHI: Despite having the rules requiring screening of newly incarcerated inmates for major infectious diseases, an alarmingly high number of prisoners at Malir district jail were found to be infected with hepatitis B and hepatitis C during a screening camp.

According to a press release, 71 inmates at the district jail were found infected with hepatitis B and C at a 10-day vaccination/screening camp, which concluded on Thursday at the prison.

The infected prisoners, it said, were also drug addicts.

A total of 3,396 inmates were vaccinated against hepatitis B at the camp, which included awareness sessions on the blood-borne viral infection.

Speaking to Dawn, Dr Zulfiqar Ali Dharejo, additional director of the Hepatitis Programme, Sindh, who led the camp, said the staff carried out PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests of 3,467 prisoners.

“Hepatitis B and C are common among prisoners. The reason is the use of contaminated syringes that prisoners shared for injecting drugs. Our aim for holding the camp was to protect prisoners and their families,” he said.

About the relevant prison rules, he said that while there were rules in place requiring screening of new prisoners for infectious diseases, he was not aware of their status of implementation.

Asked about rehabilitation of drug addicts, he said the focus of his department was hepatitis.

“It’s the first time we carried out the hepatitis screening of all inmates at the jail in a camp. Now, when these inmates have been identified, we will carry out further investigation into their individual cases to look into their disease status and to provide treatment.”

In the case of hepatitis C, he said, the medicine was generally given for only three months whereas the treatment of hepatitis B would continue for life.

Last year, the federal minister for human rights while presenting a report before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) stated that at least 5,189 prisoners housed in jails across the country were suffering from diseases like HIV/Aids, and hepatitis C.

According to experts, there are between 12 million and 15m people infected with either hepatitis B or C in Pakistan, while at least 150,000 new cases are reported every day.

Independent data suggests that hepatitis B and C have proved far more lethal than Covid-19 so far, taking between 300 and 325 lives every day in the country. The actual number of infections may be far higher since a large number of cases go unreported.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2021