MUMBAI: Hepatitis B and C viral infections are the commonest causes of liver cirrhosis and cancer. Overall, 0.6-1.2 crore Indians are estimated to be suffering from hepatitis C, and over 4 crore are estimated to suffer from hepatitis B. In a month’s time, free treatment and large scale diagnosis for viral hepatitis is going to be rolled out at eight model centres in Maharashtra, including Sion Hospital from the city.

A national action plan to fight hepatitis C was launched in July last year with an aim to eliminate the disease by 2030. Technical guidelines to detect and treat hepatitis B were released on Sunday. Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey was present at the event. With an aim to reduce morbidity and mortality, the strategy involves making diagnosis available at district levels, ensuring that more newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccination within 24 hours of birth, and more importantly, providing free treatment. The medication to cure hepatitis C costs around Rs 52 lakh for an 84-day course in the US; however, India has been able to procure its generic version for Rs 2,300 ($35) per patient. Hepatitis B patients have to undergo lifelong treatment as it is incurable.

Vikas Sheel, joint secretary, Union health ministry, stated that under the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme, patients will be given free drugs. Orders have already been placed with six generic manufacturers and medicines for 1.7 lakh hepatitis C patients have already been procured. He added that for hepatitis B, guidelines have been released and screening of patients will start. Free treatment for hepatitis B should start in July after medicines are received.

In Maharashtra, about 2-3% of the population is affected with hepatitis B and 0.5-1% has hepatitis C. The state’s public health minister, Eknath Shinde, said that hepatitis B patients have to spend Rs 2,000-2,500 per month for medication that poses a huge financial burden on the families. Besides Mumbai, model centres in Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Yavatmal, among others, will provide the free medicines.

Actor Amitabh Bachchan has been living with hepatitis B for more than two decades and is WHO’s Southeast Asia ambassador for hepatitis. He stressed on the need for early detection. He said that he has lost 75% of his liver to the ailment but he can function optimally with the 25%. It’s important to treat it, he said. He further added that the national drive should focus on fighting the stigma around hepatitis that primarily affects women.

Hepatologist Dr Akash Shukla, who heads gastroenterology at Sion Hospital, said that the biggest challenge in hepatitis is that symptoms do not appear until the virus has affected more than 80% of the liver. Early detection and treatment can check the progression. Each model centre is gearing up to enrol around 6,000 hepatitis C patients and nearly 20,000 for hepatitis B, he added. (TNN)