Free screening, treatment for pregnant women with hepatitis in Delhi: Jain

State health minister Satyendar Jain assured free availability of hepatitis drugs both in public and private sector hospitals and said all mohalla clinic staff will be trained in screening and treating hepatitis

State health minister Satyendar Jain committed to compulsorily screen and treat pregnant women with hepatitis in Delhi for free, taking a step closer to achieve the sustainable development goal (SDG) of ending viral hepatitis by 2030, on the occasion of the 24th Hepatitis Day observed at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Science on Saturday.

Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain. (ANI)

He assured free availability of hepatitis drugs both in public and private sector hospitals and said all mohalla clinic staff will be trained in screening and treating hepatitis.

“The Delhi government is planning to screening and treatment of hepatitis B and C mandatory and free for pregnant women so that early diagnoses and treatment prevents the child from getting infected. Apart from this, we will train the staff of mohalla clinics to treat this disease, along with screening, and make sure that free medicines are available there to treat the disease at the primary level. We will devise a mechanism to provide free medicines to patients of Hepatitis B in mohalla clinics,” Jain said at the ceremony.

“We will also bring hepatitis under the list of notifiable diseases of Delhi within the next few months,” said the state health minister. Vector borne diseases, such as dengue, malaria, and chikungunya, were recently added to the list of notifiable diseases in addition to Covid-19 and mucormycosis, which were notified in the course of the last two years.

In addition, the minister said the government’s upcoming digital health cards, which will contain the complete health information of Delhi residents, will be used to ensure everyone in the city is screened for Hepatitis B and C at least once in their lives. “The Delhi government will integrate the test for hepatitis with its upcoming Health Management Information System, which will ensure every health card holder goes through a hepatitis test once in their lives,” he said.

Jain said Hepatitis C is easily treatable with a 12 week medication course. Hepatitis B can also be prevented. The two ways by which Hepatitis B spreads is from expecting mother to a child and through blood transfusion. This can easily be prevented through early detection, he said.

He assured that the government will work towards passing a law against discrimination of Hepatitis B and C patients in Delhi.