ISLAMABAD: The Minister of State for Health Mohammad Afzal Sindu on Tuesday said his ministry had developed an emergency action plan for prevention and treatment of hepatitis as the number of patients was rising.
Speaking at a press conference on the occasion of World Hepatitis Day, the state minister read out Prime minister’s message and also shared the salient features of the action plan with media persons.
The plan he said was developed on the directives of Prime Minister who after feeling the intensity of the situation directed the ministry to make amendments in the existing programme aimed at dealing with Hepatitis B and C on war footing.
The diseases at present are affecting 12-15 million people in Pakistan and over the time, this number is expected to rise. As the number of the afflicted persons increases, so does the threat that they will infect others.
He said the treatment of the disease was a log term and expensive process. A recent data of the disease suggests that a tipping point may have reached in this epidemic and now the disease can spread very rapidly unless emergent and comprehensive measures are taken to stop the contagion.
Sharing salient features of the action plan he said, the renewed strategy includes an innovative plan that builds on previous efforts and incorporates contributions from a variety of sectors of the society and contributors and links the federal plan with implementation capacity at the provinces. In the plan, the federal ministry of health would act as a catalyst to start efforts aimed at launching a widespread vaccination campaign against Hepatitis B.
He said considerable support was required from communities by and large as due to the enormity of the problem government alone could not control the spread of infections, which was alarmingly high.
The draft of the plan will soon be submitted to the Planning Commission for approval after which it will be implemented across the country, he noted.
Prime minister in his message advised to the nation and communities to get behind the great national cause and choose to receive hepatitis vaccination for themselves and their families and avoid getting injections from unsafe facilities or with used syringes.
Earlier, the minister shared with the media the key indicators of progress by January 2009.
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