by thestatesman.com
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain participated in the 24th Hepatitis day at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences. On this occasion, he released a report on “Hepatitis Awareness Activities”. He congratulated team ILBS for multiple activities being undertaken by the institute over the years in the direction of achieving the sustainable development goal which aims to end viral hepatitis by 2030.
Jain explained that Hepatitis C is easily treatable with a 12-week medicine course. Hepatitis B can also be prevented. The two ways by which Hepatitis B spreads is from an expecting mother to a child and through blood transfusion. This can easily be prevented through early detection.
Adding further Jain said, “Delhi government is planning to make mandatory free screening services and treatment available of hepatitis B & C for pregnant women in order to ensure early diagnosis and treatment so that the child does not get infected with Hepatitis C or can be treated accordingly. Apart from this, we will train the staff of Mohalla Clinic to treat this disease along with screening and we will make sure that free medicines are available there to treat the disease at the primary level. We will devise a mechanism to provide free medicines to patients with Hepatitis B in Mohalla Clinics. Additionally, we will bring Hepatitis under the notifiable disease list of Delhi within the next few months.”
He also said, “The Delhi government will integrate the test of Hepatitis with its upcoming Health Management Information System, by this, we will ensure that every health card holder goes through a hepatitis test, once in a lifetime.”
Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia congratulated ILBS hospital on this occasion and applauded the team for incessant efforts to make Hepatitis a household topic, be it through the yellow ribbon campaign, EMPATHY campaign, or HEPiSchool initiative. He also appreciated the institute’s efforts during the COVID pandemic for the intellectual leadership rendered. The Dy CM affirmed that the Government of Delhi shall stand committed to the elimination of Hepatitis B and C and would welcome any additional policy changes and financial support required by ILBS to make this program a success.