Hepatitis screening

LAHORE

An alarming 35 per cent people have been diagnosed with Hepatitis B or C during screening at Arif Memorial Hospital situated in the midst of Lahore and Kasur. 

“Had there been no screening in peripheral areas, these patients would have slowly moved towards their own death and affected many others in their surroundings,” said Dr AJA Samdani, Medical Director of Arif Memorial Hospital, while addressing the participants of hepatitis screening camp and seminar on Wednesday.

Dr AJA Samdani, who is also a former AMS of Children’s Hospital, Lahore, said, according to estimates, there were nearly 9.1 million hepatitis patients in Pakistan, which needed to be identified through voluntary screening camps especially in peripheral areas and remote villages with the purpose of prevention, control and treatment of Hepatitis B & C diseases in the country. He said majority of hepatitis patients were unaware of their disease mainly because of lack of awareness and medical check-up and to seek treatment from quacks, unqualified doctors, hakeems and pirs.

He said Arif Memorial Hospital, a state-of-the-art trust hospital, with all facilities of a mega hospital catered to 103 villages around the vicinity. “We are providing 100 per cent free treatment to the patients without any discrimination except diagnostic tests and medicines,” he told journalists present on the occasion. 

Mazhar Sahi, the only patient with two-time liver transplant and hospital’s ambassador for hepatitis, said that he had gone through liver transplant surgery twice in 1998 and 2005 and was blessed with a lease of life twice through Allah Almighty’s miracle. However, he said neither every hepatitis patient was lucky to get the opportunity of a liver transplantation nor had enough resources to afford the cost of such a major surgery. Therefore, he emphasised on prevention of the disease, vaccination against Hepatitis and screening to diagnose the disease at an early stage. Besides, a large number of doctors, nurses and patients were also present on the occasion.