Drs out for public awareness about Hepatitis

Lahore: Today most of medical colleges of dr Lahore including King Edward Medical University, University of Health Sciences, Allama Iqbal Medical College, Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Fatima memorial medical college and Doctors hospital organized awareness walks, seminars and rally’s marking Second Annual Pakistan Hepatitis C awareness Day with the assistance of APPNA(all Pakistan physicians’ descent of North America). King Edward medical university organized an awareness walk that started from Biochemistry department of King Edward University and ended at the gate of Mayo hospital. A seminar was also organized in King Edward medical university in which Doctor Saira Afzal, Doctor Ali Hashmi and Doctor Imran Mehfooz addressed the audience to create awareness of Hepatitis C epidemic. Participants of the walk were given Hepatitis C awareness material prepared by APPNA. University of Health sciences also organized a seminar in relation to Second Annual Pakistan Hepatitis C awareness Day. American based Pakistani doctors under the banner of APPNA organization have appealed the masses to focus on preventive measures in order to eradicate the disease from Pakistani Population since the cure is very expensive.

The recommended various measures to curb the hepatitis C infection rate, including use of auto-destructive syringes; registration of hepatitis C screening kits and removal of defective kits from the market; enforcement of proper medical waste disposal to eliminate the recycling of disposable equipment; and cutting out unnecessary injections. The experts estimated that 90% of injections given in Pakistan were unnecessary.
Hepatitis C is commonly spread through reuse of needles among drug addicts and blood transfusion, adding that up to 25 per cent of blood transfusions occur without screening the donor’s blood. The use of low quality disinfectants for sterilization of dental and surgical instruments and poor hygiene practices at barber shops and beauty parlors are also sources of infection.