RAWALPINDI:Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Liaqat Ali Chatha on Sunday said that a hepatitis-free program was being launched in the Rawalpindi district in collaboration with the District Health Authority and Global Hepatitis Elimination Task Force from Monday.
In the pilot phase one as many as 10,000 people of all ages would be tested and screened for Hepatitis B and C in the Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi Union Council 10, Khayban-e Sir-Syed area from July 10 while after the completion of the pilot phase, the full program would be implemented in Union Councils 11,14 and 15 to target 100,000 population.
The commissioner said that hepatitis was spreading rapidly and viral hepatitis B and C cause 1.1 million deaths and three million new infections worldwide each year.
He added that according to a survey, Pakistan was the second most affected country in the world and the overall infection rate of this virus in the general population was 7.6 per cent, adding around five million people in Pakistan were disease-ridden with HBV and ten million were infected with HCV.
Chatta said that free-of-cost diagnosis, vaccination and treatment would be provided to the patients.
The provision of modern health facilities to citizens was the priority of the government and all resources were being used in this regard, he added.