EM's Kohima Correspondent
High cases of the deadly Hepatitis C virus have been reported in Nagaland but the state does not have even a testing and diagnosis facility. As if the matter weren’t already enough people cannot access treatment drugs too, although they are available, due to exorbitant prices and monopoly exercised by pharmaceuticals.
Interestingly while Nagaland does not have even a diagnosis center, free diagnosis and medicines are being provided to people in the neighboring states of Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram.
And health institutions aren’t helping either: even private hospitals exploit the people by charging exorbitant rates just for an antibody test, local nongovernmental organizations working in the field told a recent program in Kohima town.
Said issues are some of the problems being faced by Hepatitis C sufferers even as the world observes World Hepatitis Day.
With
the theme ‘elimination,’ World Hepatitis Day was observed in Kohima town with a
formal program that was organized by local health groups in Kohima town in
Thursday.
The organizers of the event were nongovernmental groups namely the HepCoN, the NUN, the Kripa Foundation, the Network of Naga People Living with HIV/AIDS (NNP+) and the semi-government agency, the Nagaland State AIDS Control Society.
The
event was conducted at the LCS building.
Similar
anti-Hepatitis programs are being held in other parts of Nagaland such as
Wokha, Mokokchung, and Phek, Kiphire, Mon, Satakha and Tuensang district.
During
screening conducted between May and June of 2016 in the state, it was found
that the prevalence of hepatitis C positive (or HCV) stood at 2.43% with 3.90% in
the male population and 0.52% among the female population.
Giving
a brief note on the Mylan CSR Project on HCV, Mhonthung Tungoe said that the
two-year project was being implemented by the NNP+ and had been undertaken in
Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland. The drive is especially so for the rural areas.
It aims at increasing ‘awareness’ and diagnosis of Hepatitis C. Key activities
include advocacies, counseling, first-level HCV screening (card tests), mobile
HCV screening in the remote areas; referral and linkages; information education
and communication.
Also,
offering an overview of state of HCV in Nagaland, Ketho, secretary of
nongovernmental organization HepCoN, said that high cases of the virus have
been reported. Nagaland does not have any single testing and diagnosis
facilities though, he lamented.
In spite of treatment drugs being made available, Ketho said that the people are not able to access them due to exorbitant prices and monopoly by pharmaceutical companies. He also alleged that sometimes private hospitals exploit the people by charging exorbitant rates just for an antibody test.
Further,
the NGO worker said, free diagnosis and medicines are being provided to people
in the neighboring states of Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram. Although there had been
many new developments in the world of science and medicine in regard to
treatment of the hepatitis virus, Ketho lamented, the people continue to die of
a preventable and curable disease because of the lack of information and because
of high treatment costs.
In this regard, a number of recommendations have been placed before the government of Nagaland to address the disease burden of Hepatitis C in the state: initiating a state surveillance system through the Health departments or the IDSP.
Another
recommendation has asked the government to ensure availability of Hepatitis
diagnostic facilities besides treatment drugs in all public health facilities.
This is to regulate Hepatitis C treatment prices and also to give importance to
Information, education and communication services about viral Hepatitis.
The
government is also requested to take the lead role in organizing the global
World Hepatitis Day events which is observed on July 28 every year as a global event,
and to introduce government health schemes for treatment of HCV.
The
HepCoN has also requested the public to contact the organization to avail free
diagnosis facilities and treatment, which is currently being offered in
collaboration with a pharmaceutical company.
World
Hepatitis Day, observed on July 28 every year, aims to raise global awareness
of hepatitis—a group of infectious diseases known as Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and
E—and encourage prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Hepatitis affects hundreds
of millions of people worldwide, causing acute and chronic disease and reportedly
killing close to 1.4 million people every year.
World
Hepatitis Day is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by
the World Health Organization (WHO), along with World Health Day, World Blood
Donor Day, World Immunization Week, World Tuberculosis Day, World No Tobacco
Day, World Malaria Day and World AIDS Day.
(Al Ngullie, July 28, 2016; Eastern Mirror)
(Al Ngullie, July 28, 2016; Eastern Mirror)
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