Kiani inaugurates free screening camp for Hepatitis B,C & TB at police headquarters

ISLAMABAD, April 10 (APP):Federal Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Aamer Mehmood Kiani Wednesday inaugurated free screening camp for Hepatitis B,C and Tuberculosis here at Police Headquarters.

Addressing on this occasion, he said 12,000 police personnel will get benefit from this free facility. Officers and staff of Islamabad Capital Territory police will be screened for various disease including hepatitis, tuberculosis, diabetes and hypertension.

He said screening process will help in early detection and quick treatment of the personnel.

He said early detection of Hepatitis-C can help in preventing liver cirrhosis, permanent damage and liver cancer.

The patients detected positive by screening process will be referred for a gene expert test at the Center for infectious disease, recently established by the Minister of National Health Services.

He said treatment for hepatitis-C will be provided at the Center, without any cost.

He said adopting a multi-prong approach to make Islamabad free from hepatitis and tuberculosis, the ministry has directed to screen ICT police personnel for communicable and non-communicable diseases.
He said as per the vision of the prime minister to turn Islamabad into a model health city, multiple health projects have been initiated. He said hepatitis free Islamabad is one such example.

He said starting from the most vulnerable and the poorest, the government has initiated a health screening project for the urban and rural slums of Islamabad. Approximately 100,000 individuals are being screened for communicable diseases like hepatitis B and C, Tuberculosis.

He said Pakistan has the second highest disease burden of hepatitis C in the world as almost 10 million people are affected with hepatitis C in Pakistan.

He said inadequate screened blood transfusions, inappropriately sterilized medical, surgical, dental and gynecological instruments, sharing razors, shaving blades and toothbrushes are the most significant risk factors for the transmission of the hepatitis C in the country. If left untreated many people will develop life threatening complications including liver cancer, he added.

Meanwhile, Minister for Interior Shehryar Afridi said better health care services will be provided to policemen and officers of federal capital.

He said such initiative like arranging free screening camp for hepatitis B and C and Tuberculosis will continue in future also for police personnel.

He said the government is cognizant of the risk posed to health of people specially police personnel by hepatitis C, TB and infectious diseases.

He said the present government is committed to poverty alleviation and main focus is to address the suffering of poor segment of society.