Pakistan: Every 10th Pakistani suffering from hepatitis

LAHORE - Every 10th person in the country is suffering from one type of hepatitis or the other and the viral infection varies in severity from a self-limited condition with total recovery to a life-threatening or lifelong disease.

Over 20 million people in Pakistan are infected with hepatitis B and C virus including around 15 million with C and five million with B and the disease is swelling at an alarming rate, medical experts say.

“Owing to lack of preventive measures and treatment facilities, hepatitis prevalence in Pakistan is the highest on the globe.

• Every 10th person is infected with hepatitis.
• Over 1.
• 5 lakh hepatitis patients die annually.
• As such over 400 people are losing life to hepatitis every day.
• Every year, over 1.
• 5 lakh Hepatitis patients are added to the existing patient load,” said senior consultant and Principal Gujranwala Medical College Prof Aftab Mohsan.

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Pakistan: Thousands of Pakistan made anti Hepatitis C injections expire

Islamabad- About 10000 injections developed by Punjab University (PU) for treatment of Hepatitis-C have gone redundant, due to negligence of provincial and federal governments.

The government has shifted all the burden of this scam to the shoulders of former PPP led government. PU medical experts had developed 100000 injections for cure of Hepatitis-C at the cost of Rs 7 million, but these have gone time barred while lying in stores, due to non-granting of permission by ministry of health and regulation for conducting laboratory test.

PU Molecular Biology department worked out plan to develop cheap Interferon injection for treatment of Hepatitis C and funds were also provided to the experts of the respective department. The said injection was developed within the span of 5 years time. The permission was sought from federal ministry for health and regulation for laboratory test of these injections. This application was kept unattended in Islamabad secretariat, for two years. These 100000 injections which were prepared for poor patients were wasted, for want of permission by the then minister of health Ejaz Jakhrani and secretary health Khushnood Lashari.

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Pakistan: Hepatitis C medication: Govt slashes Sovaldi’s price

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Wednesday announced a reduction in the price of Sovaldi — the ‘breakthrough drug’ for Hepatitis C. State minister for health Saira Tarar announced that the current price of Rs55,000 has been slashed and the drug would now be available at Rs32,300 per bottle, according to a press release. Tarar said the measure will benefit over 10 million Hepatitis C patients across Pakistan and the ministry will ensure that an adequate quantity of the drug is available within six weeks.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2015.

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Pakistan: Factory making fake Hepatitis C drug raided

Assisted by the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA), personnel of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) raided one of the local industries in Islamabad’s Kahuta industrial area here Saturday, leading to the discovery of unlawful manufacturing of Sofasbuvir tablets, which are used for the treatment of Hepatitis C, and Everlong tablets, the registration of which has long been withdrawn.

Crackdown against unregistered, spurious and fake medicines has been intensified on the directions of Minister for Health Saira Afzal Tarar. Talking to this scribe, the minister said, “I have already announced zero tolerance for manufacturing of unregistered and spurious drugs. Several factories have been sealed and action as per law is being taken without discrimination.” She added that all field offices of DRAP in the provinces have been asked to maintain strict vigil on the criminal trade of spurious drugs and take immediate and stern action under the law.

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Pakistan: Waiting for hepatitis drug

AN estimated 10 million hepatitis C patients in the country may hear the good news soon. A life-saving drug to be administered orally to such patients is expected to be cleared for distribution next week, long after it got the approval of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan. The matter has been pending with the Federal Ministry of Health Services Regulations and Coordination for the last three months, which somehow could not take out the time to give a formal nod to the medicine called Sovaldi. Whereas doctors have prescribed the tablet to a few thousand suffering Pakistanis in anticipation of its availability on the local market, one distribution company has been selected for its supply. The company is going to buy it from the United States. It was initially in competition with many other aspiring distributors, but managed to convince DRAP that it had the right combination of price and quality.

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Pakistan: Gang busted for spurious drugs sale

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested four accused involved in selling and manufacturing spurious drugs [Fake drugs] including injections for Hepatitis C patients.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, FIA Punjab Director Dr Usman Anwar said FIA received information that a person, Arshad, was involved in the printing of labels, stickers etc of spurious drugs. He said a team ridded a place in Dina and arrested accused Jameel Anjum who had been getting the printed material from Muhammad Arshad of Jhelum.

The FIA director also claimed that a large quantity of printing material pertaining to spurious drugs was recovered from the spot including Injection Peg-INF, Capsule Xolox Capsule Ribasole (all used for Hepatitis C), Injection Fentin (for epilepsy), tablet Aminess (Multivitamin), machinery and stickers used for manufacturing of injection Peg-INF.

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Pakistan: Infectious diseases: Capital hospitals witnessed surge in cases

ISLAMABAD: The surge in prevalence of infectious diseases warrants urgent measures from health authorities to control their spread.

The two federal capital hospitals registered 16,000 new cases of hepatitis B and C last year.

Despite the alarming situation the federal government has been unable to initiate any alternative programme to prevent spread of hepatitis after the devolution of the health ministry.

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