As the World Hepatitis Day was observed on Thursday, there has been no concern at the government level about more than 10,000 patients of hepatitis B and C in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) where only 1,500 patients could so far be registered.
Official sources at the Agency Headquarters Hospital told this correspondent on condition of anonymity that among the large number of patients in the area, only 26 were provided with the required medication. Many others were being kept waiting by the hospital administration as the government did not provide medicines to the healthcare centres in the area.
Several patients of the hepatitis C, including Syed Ayub, Zainullah Khan, Abdullah and Abdul Matin, said that because of the limited resources they could not afford to buy expensive medicines. Syed Ayub said his whole family was hepatitis positive and as there was lack of facilities, the disease was spreading at an alarming speed. He said that blood PCR, SGPT and ultrasound tests were beyond the means of the poor patients as the government-run hospital in Miramshah lacked all these facilities to provide free treatment to them.
When Agency Surgeon Dr Abdur Rauf was contacted, he said the HBC infected people were in large numbers in North Waziristan. However, he said the government was not providing any vaccine or medicines to the local hospital.
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