SWABI, Feb 28: About 4,500 blood simples have been collected for screening hepatitis-B and C cases in Swabi district under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of hepatitis in the country.

Free vaccination visitors was conducted during the two-day camps organised in Yar Hussian, Firdosabad (Charbagh) and Ismalia villages besides the district headquarters hospital. People belonging to different walks of life approached to the designated camps for giving blood simples and getting free vaccination.

The DHQ Laboratory was used for screening the blood samples.

Medical teams from Islamabad and Peshawar reached here and were assisted by the staff of the district government, district health department and DHQ hospital doctors and paramedics. Some staff of rural health centres was also deployed to assist them, said Dr Mohammad Tariq who was coordinating the programme.

Dr Ihsanullah Turabi, Provincial Coordinator of the Prime Minister’s programme, briefed journalists about the campaign and said the Hepatitis Control and Prevention Programme 2005-2010 had already propagated among all stakeholders at a cost Rs2.6 billion.To control the hepatitis, a result-oriented strategy has been evolved for collaborations with provincial health departments by the federal government, he said.

In Swabi district, he said, the target was to vaccinate and collect 4,000 simples but the well-organised camps attended by about 4,500 people. The programme, he said, had also been introduced in Mardan, Charsadda, Peshawar, Upper Dir, Kohat, Swat, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, and Nowshera.

The programme, he said, will save million of lives and ensures protection of children across the country.

Dr Tariq said that majority of the people in the country were not aware about this dreadful disease and that was the reason that it was rapidly spreading. Lack of awareness was the main cause as the number of patients was multiplying with an alarming pace, he said. He said that vaccination against hepatitis for children under age of five years had been included in the Expended Programme on Immunization (EPI).

However, he said the great rush of the people in the four centres indicated that they were educated about it. The programme is a noble effort to stem the spread of a deadly disease that continued to endanger precious life and health of millions of people in the country.

Replying a question, Dr Turabi said with the blood screening they would come to know about the accurate number of patients and it would also make clear that in which tempo this deadly disease is spreading in the NWFP.

“The result of 1,000 simples was received which said that there were 40 cases of hepatitis-B (four per cent) and 83 case of hepatitis-C (8.3 per cent) while the result of the remaining samples is awaited,” said Dr Tariq.

“In Charbagh camp 1,606 people were vaccinated, in Yar Hussian 1,753, in Ismalia 510 and the remaining belonged to the DHQ camp.”

All positive hepatitis-B and C patients would be treated free of cost under the programme and now they registered with the district health authority.

District Nazim Shahram Khan has warned that the number of hepatitis patients has been multiplying with an alarming pace due to non-availability of potable water.

The government, he said, would set up water filtration plants in the district.