Hepatitis C patients leave treatment midway, indifferent attitude to blame

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 17

The Health Department is providing free treatment for Hepatitis C and currently, 3,235 patients are undergoing treatment at the Civil Hospital. Although the government is doing everything to put an end to Hepatitis C, many people do not follow the treatment till the end. As a result, they are not cured properly from the disease.

Many patients adopt indifferent attitude and do not undergo the mandatory Sustained Virologic Response (SVR) Test. Getting this test done is important as it decides whether a patient is fully cured or not.

Nearly 500 patients who took treatment from the Civil Hospital are yet to undergo the test. The test is done three months after the medication is over and all depends upon the type of virus they are infected with. The test done after the medication is over depicts the actual position whether a patient needs to go through further medication or not.

“Many patients think that taking medicines is enough. Once the course is complete, they stop taking medicines but it is wrong. They have to undergo the compulsory test to know about the exact position of their disease,” said Dr Ramesh, District Epidemiologist.

He said the department was taking every step to ensure that patients undergo the compulsory test.

“Patients are contacted over phone and if we fail to contact them, they are approached directly by the department and asked to get the test done from the Civil Hospital,” he said.

About hepatitis C

Hepatitis C is a disease that causes inflammation and infection of the liver. There is no vaccine for Hepatitis C, like Hepatitis A and B. 

Symptoms 

Fever , dark coloured urine, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, joint pain and jaundice

What is SVR

Sustained Virologic Response is a test to check the presence of viruses in the blood 24 weeks after the completion of antiviral therapy for chronic Hepatitis C virus infection.