LARKANA, Sept 30: District Nazim Mohammad Bakhsh Arijo on Saturday appealed to the provincial coordinator of the prime minister’s programme on hepatitis-B and C to help the district provide urgently needed treatment to hepatitis patients.

He said that more than 15 per cent of the total population of the district was suffering from hepatitis-B and 10 per cent from hepatitis-C.

He said that he had informed the provincial coordinator in a letter that the disease had reached ‘alarming’ level in the district and required preventive measures on a war footing.

According to the feedback from hospitals, jail and local NGOs working on different projects the majority of patients suffering from hepatitis C were at chronic stage and needed urgent help.

The nazim requested the coordinator to send to his district the teams, which were already studying the situation in the districts of Upper Sindh, to carry out a survey and provide preventive medicines.

The ratio of hepatitis B and C was very high in the mountainous belt of Khirthar and most of the victims could not even afford the costly treatment of the disease due to abject poverty, he said.

He said that with meagre resources at its disposal the district could not cope with the situation alone and required immediate help from the government.