Medicine of Post Graduate Medical Institute & Lahore General Hospital Associate Professor Dr Israr-ul-Haq Toor has said treatment of Hepatitis C with tablets instead of injections is more successful as this medication has no side effects.
Speaking on Sunday on the occasion of World Hepatitis Day, he said that Hepatitis B and C is a rapidly spreading disease due to carelessness, ignorance and dietary treatment. He added that the situation is spiraling out of control due to the non-adoption of precautionary measures while the rapid rise in deaths due to jaundice is a matter of great concern.
Dr Israr-ul-Haq Toor said that people usually do not get their blood tested due to lack of awareness and consider their hepatitis as a stigma and hide their disease which gradually becomes fatal. When some patient is brought to the hospital, it is often difficult or even impossible for the doctors to treat him and he dies. For this, it is necessary to make timely diagnosis and treatment of the hepatitis patient possible.
He further said that almost 20 million people across the country are suffering from Hepatitis. He urged the citizens to take hepatitis C seriously and avoid sleeping pills and cough syrups, otherwise they can cause serious harm. Dr. Toor said that the symptoms of Hepatitis A include loss of appetite, irritability, fatigue, yellowing of eyes and body color and restlessness. He said that if the test for hepatitis in pregnant women is positive, then the disease can be transmitted to children during motherhood, so they should not neglect vaccination so that mother and child are safe.
He said that for prevention and control of hepatitis doctors and field staff must take responsibility for finding patients in the community who need to encourage and persuade the public to have a blood test so that they can voluntarily contract hepatitis. He said that if the test is positive then treatment should be started from the very beginning of the disease so that further spread of the disease can be prevented.
Dr Israr-ul-Haq said that hepatitis can be cured and treatment of this disease, with proper care and treatment the patient recovers completely, however, it is also important to prevent the causes of the disease, for which reuse of disposal syringes is definitely to be stopped and the patient should always be given screened blood transfusions.
