PESHAWAR, Sept 4: The provincial health department is finding it hard to cope with the number of patients it had registered for free treatment under the National Programme for Control and Prevention of Hepatitis (NPCPH).

“We have received injections and tablets for the treatment of 130 patients each of hepatitis B and C from the NPCPH while the number of patients already registered for free treatment is more than 12,000,” a source in the health department claimed.

The federal ministry of health is likely to approve a revised PC-1 of Rs15.2 billion of which the provincial government would receive 14 per cent share in view of its population, but sources in the department said that they needed to tackle the increasing number of patients who were on the waiting list for free treatment under the programme.

The federal government had launched the Rs2.58 billion programme in 2005 aiming to stem the tide of viral ailment by scaling up the awareness level of the people regarding the causative agent of the disease.

A latest study conducted by the Pakistan Medical and Research Centre (PMRC) had indicated that hepatitis B was prevalent among 2.6 per cent and C among 5.6 per cent of the country’s population, due to which the federal government ordered revision of the PC-1 of the five-year (2005-9) to allocate more resources towards curtailment of the disease.

“The injections and drugs supplied by the NPCPH is peanut given the number of patients, but we are also in the process of finalising our own PC-1 that would include Rs120 million for the treatment of the patients,” said Dr Ihsanulah Turabi, NWFP coordinator of the programme.

He said that the provincial government had slashed PC-1s of all the programmes, but had agreed to release the desired amount for the treatment of hepatitis.

“We had given a briefing to the provincial ministers regarding the prevalence of the disease and free treatment required by the patients.

The government had agreed,” he said. “Within a week, we would be able to launch our own free treatment programme. We would be able to provide free treatment facilities to about 3,000 patients.”

He said: “The cost of treatment of one patient is Rs30,000, but we are planning to reduce it to Rs16,000 which means that we would be able to treat about 6,000 patients. He said that since the launching of the programme, about 3,026 patients suffering from B and C types of hepatitis had been extended free diagnostic and treatment facilities.

Dr Turabi hoped that with the approval of the revised PC-1 of the NPCPH, they would be able to receive more funds from the federal government for the treatment component.

He said that the provincial government would set aside Rs40 million for the free treatment of the patients per year. The previous government had approved a provincial programme worth Rs26 million, but it had no treatment component and the entire amount went to advocacy regarding the disease.

Under the new programme at the provincial level, he said, more patients would get free treatment, while the federal government would also send in injections and tablets that would enable them to cope with the increasing number of patients.