There is no treatment facility of deadly viral disease known as Hepatitis-D for the last three years at the sentinel site established in Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH), Larkana and all the affected patients are being referred to Hyderabad to get treatment.
This was revealed in a letter sent to Health Secretary by CMCH Medical Superintendent (MS) Dr Javed Ali Shaikh, here on Monday. ‘Over 10 patients arrive monthly at this site, but if treatment facility is made available their number could increase as most of the affected patients live in remote areas and cannot afford travelling costs even to Larkana’, the letter added.
MS further said, “It is a well known fact that poverty has hit very hard the masses in these areas of this district due to which most of them are unable to get themselves investigated for various diseases through tests until the disease becomes chronic.” The MS further wrote, “Hepatitis is found in abundance in Kambar-Shahdad Kot and Larkana districts as experts estimate more than 5pc of entire Larkana district population and over 10pc population of Kambar-Shahdad Kot district is infected with this dreaded disease which is very alarming and need to be tackled on priority rather emergency basis.”
Dr Shaikh requested the Health secretary to order supply of costly treatment facility of Hepatitis-D at this sentinel site on urgent basis so that the poor patients may be relieved of travelling costs from Larkana to Hyderabad.
In this connection, PPI has learnt that 26 HDV cases were registered in 2010, 62 in 2011, 54 in 2012 and 92 in 2013. It must also be noted here that Hepatitis Prevention & Control Programme (Chief Minister’s Initiative) was launched in Sindh several years ago but its working has become a very big question mark since last few years.