KARACHI, June 19: Some 2,440 patients registered under the Prime Minister’s Programme for the Prevention and Control of Hepatitis in Sindh are still awaiting the promised free treatment, Dawn has learnt.

Meanwhile, patients currently under treatment are suffering because of the slow supply of medicines.

According to a source in the programme, an additional 2,750 healthcare workers and citizens were screened for Hepatitis-B and -C at the Civil Hospital Karachi and the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) up to April 15, 2007, of which about 300 tested positive.

Currently, 11 designated centres – including one in Karachi – are dispensing free treatment to hepatitis patients in Sindh under the programme. Launched in August 2005, the five-year programme was allocated Rs2.52 billion at the country level. During the first phase, which was supposed to continue till June 2006, Sindh was promised resources – including the vital Interferon injection – for the treatment of 1,740 Hepatitis-C patients. The programme also stipulated measures to ensure safe blood transfusions, syringes and sterilised medical equipment in government and private hospitals.

The matter is one of serious import since sources quote a Ministry of Health study which estimates that about 3.6 per cent of Sindh’s population is infected with Hepatitis-B, while 5.4 per cent suffers from Hepatitis-C. The incidence of Hepatitis-A, a self-limiting virus, is at least one episode suffered under the age of 15 by 97 per cent of the population.

Under the mechanism evolved by the Prime Minister’s Programme for the Prevention and Control of Hepatitis, committees have been formed in chosen hospitals of the provincial health departments and the federal government in Sindh. These determine patients’ eligibility and register them for free treatment.

The programme’s provincial coordinator, Dr Zulfikar Ali Gorar, conceded that there had been delays in the delivery of medicines to registered patients but “things are now under control.” He said that supplies of the injection Interferon and the capsule Ribavirine will shortly be delivered to Sindh’s director-general health, after which the needs of patients awaiting treatment would also be catered to.

Dr Gorar informed Dawn that the province’s 11 centres have been functional since July 2006 and 526 patients have so far completed the treatment, which comprises 72 Interferon injections and other medication administered over six months. The treatment of 98 out of 235 registered Hepatitis-B patients is underway, while about 2,100 registered Hepatitis-C patients are on the waiting list. Referring to the incidents when patients have quarrelled with doctors, Dr Gorar said that a break of up to one month in the administration of Interferon would not harm Hepatitis-C patients.

Meanwhile, Prof. SM Munir, point-person for the PM’s programme at the JPMC, told Dawn that the hospital has registered about 1,000 patients, of which 127 had completed treatment. The treatment, raging from one to four months, of another 700 patients is currently underway. Referring to the estimated 100 registered patients who have not contacted the hospital for medicine, Dr Munir said that the supply was delayed for about two months, during which some patients stopped coming to the centre. He said that these people must be informed that medicines are now available and that they should report immediately.