PESHAWAR, Sept 16: A haematologist has cited reuse of syringes as the main reason behind the spread of hepatitis-B, and urged the medical practitioners to avoid administering injections to patients as far as possible to save them from falling victim to the deadly disease.

Prof Dr Najibul Haq was delivering his paper on the ‘Hepatitis in the NWFP’ at a one-day symposium jointly arranged by the Pakistan Medical Association and Greenstar Social Marketing here on Monday.

Provincial Health Minister Dr Meher Taj Roghani was the chief guest on the occasion.

Dr Haq said the government was spending billions of rupees on the screening of blood for HIV while no attention was being paid to hepatitis which was taking heavy tolls on the human lives across the country.

He told the gathering that there were nine million people infected with hepatitis-B, and every 10th person was the carrier of the virus. In most of the cases, infection was transmitted by mothers to their newborns. Cost of vaccination was Rs16,000 per case, which, he said, was out of the reach of the poor.

Hepatitis also caused cancer of liver, the transplantation of which cost Rs8 million, he said.

Dr Haq said used syringes were sold in the market for Rs35-40 per kg and repacked to be sold again.

He said 60 per cent causes of its transmission were this abuse of syringes.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sher Shah of the PMA, criticized the government for not paying attention to the healthcare needs of the people, saying most of the births in the country were attended to by untrained people which caused severe complications.

According to him, every year 30,000 women died in the country due to pregnancy-related complications, while another 3,75,000 suffered owing to lack of medical facilities.

The chief guest informed the audience that the government would soon launch a vaccination drive against hepatitis, and the vaccines would be provided free of cost to the newborns.  

Others who spoke on the occasion included Dr Saeed Majeed, Dr Rehana Ahmed, Dr Robina Gilani, NWFP PMA President Dr Umar Ayub Khan, Dr Abdul Nadir and Dr Akbar Khalil.