PESHAWAR, Jan 18: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hepatitis Control Programme will provide free diagnostic and treatment facilities to 60,000 people deserving Zakat at the government-run hospitals under a five-year plan costing Rs2.5 billion.

“The federal government has approved a Rs2.5 billion programme for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under which every year Rs500 million will be spent on provision of diagnostic and treatment facilities to 12,000 Zakat deserving patients of hepatitis. We have already received installment for the current year,” said Dr Muhammad Azam Khan, coordinator of the National Programme for Control and Prevention of Hepatitis for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.He said that there was specific data about the prevalence of hepatitis, but some local and international studies had suggested that between 500,000 and 600,000 people suffered from hepatitis in the province. The ratio of hepatitis B and C is 1:8, he said and added that the incidence of hepatitis B had decreased due to vaccination programme launched by the expanded programme on immunisation (EPI) of the health department in 2002.

Dr Khan said that the Benazir Health Support Programme would provide the amount of Rs500 million to the KP every year. “We have already received Rs500 million for the current year that will go to the treatment of poor patients who have valid Zakat certificate,” he said.

He said that the process had already been started for the procurement of medicines, vaccines and equipment that would be supplied to the designated hospitals in the districts. The programme will be run by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hepatitis Control Programme under the supervision of National Programme for Control and Prevention of Hepatitis, he said and added that the former would take care of treatment aspect of the patients while the latter will look after the activities aimed at spreading awareness of the viral infection among people.

“We are focusing on all types of the disease, including hepatitis B, C, D, A and E. For prevention of hepatitis B and C, we will work jointly with the departments concerned to make arrangements for safe disposal of infectious hospital waste while for water-borne hepatitis A and E, the support of tehsil municipal administrations and the relevant district departments would be enlisted to ensure that people use clean water and stay safe from the disease,” Dr Khan said.

He said that about 25,000 patients had received free treatment during the last three years, on which about Rs360 million was spent. He said that priority would be given to treatment of 4,000 patients who had already been registered for treatment from Zakat. He said that capacity-building of the staff and installation of incinerators and plants for drinking water were also part of the programme.

Dr Khan said that the close relatives of hepatitis B patients would receive vaccination to safeguard themselves against the disease. He said that as part of the programme seminars and workshops would also be organised to create awareness among people of causes and prevention of hepatitis and laws concerning safe blood transfusion and safe dental practices.