More than 10,000 newly registered Hepatitis B & C patients have been suffering due to the unavailability of medicines at hepatitis centres throughout the province for the last three months.
Sources at Hepatitis Prevention & Control Programme, Sindh told PPI that more than 10,000 newly registered hepatitis B & C patients throughout the province have been put on the waitlist by the doctors due to the shortage of medicines at hepatitis centres.
Newly registered patients at hepatitis centres in Civil Hospital Karachi, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Sindh Government Qatar Hospital and Sindh Government Hospital Liaquatabad and other government hospitals have been deprived of medicines for over three months, causing great hardship for the patients.
The registered patients in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur and other districts of the province have been visiting the hepatitis centres on regular basis to get medicines for last three months but were repeatedly asked by the doctors to buy medicines from private medical stores.
The shortage of medicines in hepatitis centers has badly affected the performance of the programme as treatment of hepatitis patients is very costly and the majority of the patients cannot afford the treatment of the disease. It has also put the lives of scores of patients suffering from Hepatitis B & C at risk.
Hepatitis Prevention & Control Programme, Sindh Programme Manager Dr Khadim Qureshi said that the supply of medicines would be restored to hepatitis centres across the province within ten days. He further said that the proposal had already been sent to higher ups of the health department.
