KARACHI, Dec 4: The three-day congress on liver problems organised by Saarc concluded here on Sunday with the participating experts agreeing that Hepatitis A, B, C, D and E are the major liver diseases in this region.

Prof Wasim Jafri was the President of Congress while Prof Saeed Hamid and Prof Hasnain Shah were the chairmen.

The theme of the congress was “Meeting the Challenge of Viral Hepatitis in South Asia”. It was organised in conjunction with the 6th Annual meeting of the Pakistan Society of Hepatology as the Third Liver Congress.

The meeting was attended by experts from member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, as well as Japan, Singapore and USA, besides nearly 300 other delegates.

Prominent among the speakers were Prof S. K. Acharya and Rakesh Aggarwal of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; Prof Y. K. Chawla of the PGMI Chandigarh; Dr Anil Arora of the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi; Prof S. M. Shrestha of the Liver Foundation, Nepal; Prof Shahinul Alam from Dhaka, Prof Mizokami from Japan and Prof Obaid Shaikh from the USA.

They presented their latest research data on the epidemiology of various liver diseases in this region including cirrhosis and cancer of the liver, fatty liver disease, alcoholic liver disease, HIV and Hepatitis-C virus co-infections. Latest methods to treat Hepatitis B and C, liver cancer, complications of liver cirrhosis and fatty liver disease were extensively discussed.

A special session was devoted to the need and availability of liver transplantation.

It was noted that the Hepatitis B vaccine had also been integrated in the EPI programme by the government about five years back so that this highly effective vaccine could be made available free of charge for new born.

Acknowledging that in Pakistan, the Prime Minister’s Programme for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis has been launched and being implemented effectively, delegates hoped that a large portion of the population would benefit from the programme.

A group comprising foreign and local delegates called on Sindh governor to apprise him of the threat from the growing cases of liver diseases and the difficulties in dealing with the same.

The idea of collaboration on liver diseases treatment among Saarc countries was first proposed by Prof B. N. Tandon who had convened the first meeting on liver diseases under the aegis of Saarc in New Delhi in 2000. Liver specialists from Pakistan then carried forward the initiative by holding the second and third meeting of the series in Karachi in 2001 and 2006.

Due to the success of these meetings, it was decided that a ‘Liver Society of Saarc States’ be formed. Pakistan was given the honour to form and lead the Society .

The task of the Society is to bring together experts in a common forum in order to promote education, research, training, awareness and prevention of liver diseases, and to strive for defining cost-effective treatment of liver patients in the region.—PPI