Govt to provide free drugs, diagnostics for Hepatitis B, C: Nadda

New Delhi, July 28 : The government will soon provide free drugs and diagnostics for Hepatitis B and C, Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda said.
Launching the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme to mark the World Hepatitis Day, 2018, here on Saturday, Mr Nadda said, “This initiative will provide laboratory testing and management of viral hepatitis with a de-centralized approach”.
He said the government was strongly committed to work towards elimination of viral Hepatitis by 2030.
The Minister said that under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry was aggressively addressing the preventable diseases. Adding that there had been a paradigm shift in designing the programme.
“Programmes are now designed at the ground level and all stakeholders are taken into consideration. We are now making sure that the last person gets the benefit out of it,” he added.
The Minister further said that his Ministry had already launched a campaign to end TB by 2025, five years ahead of global target. The Government now has more than 1100 CBNAAT machines for rapid diagnosis of TB and provides daily regimen with fixed dose combinations and the programme had also initiated active case finding to screen more TB patients.
Speaking at the function, Communication Minister Manoj Sinha stated that the Department of Posts (DoP) had released several stamps to generate awareness about various programmes of the government.
He further informed the participants about various initiatives of DoP.
Mr Sinha released a commemorative stamp and Mr Nadda released the Operational Guidelines for National Viral Hepatitis Control Program, National Laboratory Guidelines for Viral Hepatitis Testing and National Guidelines for Diagnosis and Management of Viral Hepatitis.
Ministers of State Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Anupriya Patel along with others were also present at the launch function.
Mr Choubey, said that awareness was very important component of the programme. As disease burden was very significant in India, this would help all to find the disease carriers and towards their diagnosis and treatment.
“This exemplifies India’s commitment to providing universal health coverage and meeting SDG targets for the country,” he said.
Ms Patel, stated that National Viral Control Programme marks the beginning of the nation’s journey to control viral hepatitis thereby reducing mortality and morbidity attributed to it.
“It is envisaged that this programme will reach large number of people possibly harbouring the infection, she said.
Integrating the intervention within the existing health systems framework under NHM rather than adopting a vertical approach would further complement the efforts in providing more comprehensive care till the grass-root level, she added.
The Health Ministry had launched the ‘National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme’, with the goal of ending viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030 in the country.
The aim of the initiative is to reduce morbidity and mortality due to viral hepatitis.