World Hepatitis Day Observed

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The State government would discus matter related to providing Rs 1 Lakh each to all patients suffering from Hep-C and B, who are living below poverty line (BPL), Sh Surchandra, Director of Health Services, Government of Manipur has informed.
Sh Surchandra was speaking as Chief Guest on the occasion of World Hepatitis Day observance organized jointly by All Manipur Anti Drug Association (AMADA) and Community Network for Empowerment (CoNE) in collaboration with SDS Full ford (India) Ltd ; USA at the office of AMADA, Keishampat here today. The theme of this year observance is "Its closure than you think".

The Director further informed that a meeting with the specialists in the field of Hepatitis would be held at the Medical Directorate on August 3 to discuss the probabilities of providing Rs 1 Lakh to all the patients suffering from hepatitis C and B who are living below poverty line.

Financial support amounting to Rs 1 Lakh has already been started provided to BPL people suffering from Cancer, who are undergoing Kidney Transplantation and Neurological operations by the state government in its first phase. All government employees are also enjoying the benefit of late, he added.

He also stated that Hep-C and B, although seem to be diseases with little complications, however, are dreaded diseases. Once an individual is infected with these diseases, the lifespan of the individual is shortened. The vaccine for Hepatitis B has been invented but no vaccine for the treatment of Hepatitis-C has been developed till today. The government of India has taken up measures to eradicate Hep-B and accordingly vaccinations programmes for children free of cost has been taken up by the Central government, although the programme has not been taken up for adults.

In Assam and Nagaland, treatment of Hepatitis C has been done free of cost. The meeting to be conducted on August 3 would probably come up to a decision to provide free treatment in the state as well. The function was presided by Yumnam Sundari, President of AMADA. As a part of the observation a Panel Discussion on "Hepatitis" was also organized. Dr Th Joy, Addl Director, Public health, Directorate of Health Services, Government of Manipur; Dr Kh Lokeshore, Asst Prof medicine, JNIMS; S Amusana, Community representative- Living with Hep-C and Y Shashikumar, General Secretary, SASO were the panelists. Dr Ch Chandramani, former Director, Health Services, Government of Manipur was the moderator of the panel discussion.

The Recovery Alliance of MNP+ also observed World Hepatitis Day at the Secretariat Hall of Manipur Network of Positive People today. The function was graced by Dr Angomcha, Psychiatrist and RK Pururaj, President of Recovery Alliance of MNP+ as Chief Guest and President respectively. Y Shashikumar, General Secretary, SASO and Advocate I Vikramjit, who is also a public health activist, were Guests of Honour.

Speaking on the Dr Angomcha said that though Hepatitis is not his specialization, yet he has been working in the field of HIV and AIDS and drug use. He informed that 12 crores people are infected by Hepatitis C and 1/12 of the people infected by Hepatitis C are deadly. He also pointed out that though the observation is being held every year, there has been lack of effective follow up. So, there is the need to keep the momentum maintained till all important goal of accessing treatment is accessible.