Call for Hepatitis C free Punjab

Ludhiana, July 27, 2018: It can happen with as little as one drop of blood, and doctors are asking everyone to learn more about the risks of Hepatitis C and get tested.
One of the most widely prevalent infections of the liver, Hepatitis, claims close to 1.5 million lives every year, with 1 in every 100 people in India being infected with the virus. It often leads to permanent liver damage (cirrhosis), and even liver cancer.
Dr. Nitin Shanker Behl, head of gastroenterology department at Fortis hospital Ludhiana, spoke on the occasion of World hepatitis day. Dr.Nitin Behl highlighted the fact that “Punjab is the capital of Hepatitis C in India as prevalence of the disease is maximum in the state.”In a interactive session involving 50 village Sarpanches, he highlighted the need for screening of people living in these villages and the treatment of positive patients.
Dr. Behl informed that Hepatitis C is primarily caused by factors such as unscreened blood during transfusions, unsafe surgical practices and unsafe therapeutic injections. However, in Punjab, the main cause of the spread of hepatitis C is sharing of infected needles by intravenous drug users and blood products. Most people contract it when using drug equipment and unsterile tattoo and piercing practices.
Other risk factors include: receiving medical, dental or personal services using contaminated equipment, a parent could infect a child during pregnancy and childbirth, sharing personal items like nail clippers, razors and toothbrushes and also being exposed to blood during sexual activity.
“You don’t know you have it until you get tested,” Dr. Behl said. The need for serious action along the lines of drug free Punjab movement was shared with village heads. For youngsters his message was “Even if it was once, so once in college or work, you took drugs with your friends, you should get tested, and the reason you should get tested is because there’s now a cure. Advances in medicine have led to an improved cure with fewer side effects, meaning people with Hepatitis C have a 98 per cent chance of being cured after eight to 12 weeks on medication. Not getting treatment however, can lead to more serious illnesses, such as cirrhosis of the liver or cancer. “So it’s still good to get treated, so that they feel better, and also get treated so they don’t spread it to anybody,” Dr. Behl added.“It’s a chronic viral illness … it can hang in there for a long time.”
Fortis hospital also organized free testing for 300 plus patients and also counseled regarding disease and its treatment and prevention. It was interactive session in presence ofdirectors of Fortis hospital Ludhiana who said that eliminating hepatitis C from Punjab is our aim.
Dr. Behl added “Fortis hospital will join hands with the Sarpanches and NGOs to adopt their villages where free testing and treatment will be done. The future I feel is bright as modalities such as the availability of cheap anti-viral drugs along with the adoption of villages will lead to hepatitis C free Punjab. He urged public to participate proactively in this noble cause like the ongoing drug free Punjab movement”.
Prominent villages that participated were Mundian, Katanikalan, Koomkalan, Mangali, Ramgarh, Jatana and Kanech.