Groundwater contamination, use of infectious surgical instruments and adulterated food is playing havoc with Faisalabad residents as over one-fourth of the city’s population was infected with different types of hepatitis. An abode to nine million people, the Faisalabad district randomly has over two million people infected with this injurious disease especially ‘Hepatitis C’ posing serious challenges to Health authorities in treating the patients.
With nearly three dozen well-known hospitals in the city, a few have proper treatment facilities to cure hepatitis C and most of the remaining, lack proper equipment. Only the Liver Center at Allied Hospital-II being run on a public-private partnership, has the latest facilities but it is stated to be too costly for the poor patients who are the dominating demography of the district.
Most of the city’s population was dependent on underground water but the mushroom growth of mills and factories had polluted underground water in most areas in recent decades. “The situation is critical as 28% of people are suffering from Hepatitis C alone and 4% from other types of hepatitis,” said Chairman of Liver Foundation Trust and former Principal of Punjab Medical College Prof Dr Zahid Yasin Hashmi.
He revealed that the Liver Foundation conducted free screening of hepatitis in 270 villages around Faisalabad and the cumulative number (32%) was alarming. “Most people ignore the gravity of this disease and bring patients to hospitals when the disease is at advanced stage. In the case of such patients, the recovery chances are very low.” He urged to launch a vigorous awareness campaign to educate people and save them from this disease.—APP
