Hepatology ward at SZH soon

Staff Report

LAHORE: A hepatology ward would be set up at Sheikh Zayed Hospital (SZH) to provide liver transplant facility to patients, said Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool on Sunday.

Addressing the eighth annual congress of the Pakistan Society of Hepatology, he said liver diseases were posing a great challenge to the health sector. “At least 15 million people in the country are suffering from hepatitis-B,” he said.

The governor said the federal government had allocated Rs 3.20 billion to provide free treatment to low-income hepatitis patients at district headquarters hospitals.

He said a campaign would be launched to create awareness about this fatal disease among the masses. He said the government had made the free vaccination of hepatitis-B a regular part of the extensive programme of immunisation (EPI) for children. He said now the treatment was available to hepatitis-C patients for Rs 25,000–30,000 instead of Rs 300,000– 400,000 for interferon therapy.

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