Hepatitis C patients suffer as no drugs available at Hepatitis Centres

KARACHI-The newly registered Hepatitis C  patients in Sindh province have been deprived of life-saving drugs since three months as Sindh Health Department has failed to purchase medicines for patients suffering this chronic disease, it was recently learned.

The Hepatitis Prevention & Control Program, Sindh (Chief Minister Initiative) has been facing acute shortage of drugs since three months due to delay of issuance of tender by authorities concerned of Sindh health department  and poor supply system.

The score of newly registered hepatitis C cases throughout the province have been put on waiting by the doctors due to shortage of drugs at Hepatitis Centres. Although, old registered patients have been receiving medicines on regular basis but unfortunately newly registered Hepatitis C patients have been deprived of these crucial drugs since the last couple of months.

Sources said newly registered patients at Hepatitis Centres Civil Hospital Karachi, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Sindh Government Qatar Hospital and Sindh Government Hospital Liaquatabad and other government hospitals have been deprived of drugs, causing great hardship for hepatitis patients.

Similarly, the registered patients in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur and other districts of province are visiting the hepatitis centres on a regular basis to obtain their medication for the past three months but they are being asked by doctors to instead purchase these drugs from private medical stores as supply has not started from hepatitis program to centres as per requirement.

The shortage of medicines in hepatitis centres has badly affected program performance as treatment of hepatitis patients was very costly and majority of patients could not afford treatment of disease. The shortage of drugs puts lives of patients suffering from hepatitis C at risk if the shortage of drugs continue in future.

Media Coordinator, Hepatitis Prevention & Control Program, Sindh, Khurram Khan, said supply of drugs would resume to hepatitis centres throughout the province by the end of this month.  He informed that delay in issuance of tender is causing a grave shortage of medicines in the province.