KABUL (Pajhwok): The Infectious diseases hospital in Kabul on Tuesday said it registered 1,293 hepatitis patients last month compared to 356 cases during the same period last year.
Dr. Ihsanullah Hakimi, a specialist doctor at the Antony hospital, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the number of hepatitis patents had increased.
He said, during the first month of 1401 solar year, 356 hepatitis patients were treated, but the number of such patients surged to 1293 during the same period in 1402 solar year.
Hakimi added: “During the first months of last year we lacked medicines to give to patients and the people were also economically weak and we had no option but to refer such patients to private pharmacy stores to buy medicines and it was a reason less people visited our hospital last year.”
But an international organization began to work with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and provided medicines to Antony hospital for patients suffering from jaundice and hepatitis and thus the number of such patients visiting their hospital increased, he said.
After the international organization started providing its assistance, the number of hepatitis patients visiting their hospital increased to 578 during the month of Mezan and 900 more patients visited this hospital in Jadi month, Hakimi said.
He said earlier about 30 people suffering from hepatitis used to come to the hospital, but now this number has increased from 80 or 100 patients daily.
According to Hakimi, the reason for the increased number of hepatitis patients visiting the hospital was free medicines and an increase in the number of such patients in the country.
“This hospital welcomes patients with infectious disease from the capital and provinces, it has 200 beds, if a patient visits this hospital with acute hepatitis, he or she is immediately offered bed.”
According to Hakimi’s figures, 8697 patients visited their hospital during 1401 solar year.
He said: “We give two doses of vaccine to patients for jaundice, when the first dose is administered, it doesn’t matter if the second dose is administered in six months or after one year, the patient must receive two doses of this vaccine”.
Nausea, yellow skin or yellow eyes, pain at the right side of abdomen, yellow colored urination and sometimes itchy skin are the symptoms of jaundice.
“Jaundice is also common in children because women in rural areas do not realize they are suffering from viral hepatitis if they give birth to a child, the child is also infected with this disease”, he said.
“Anyone can get infected, it is transmittable through different ways from an infected person to healthy ones.”
Amanullah, a hepatitis patient from Kapisa province, told Pajhwok that he was hospitalized two days ago.
He said: “I went to a doctor in Kapisa, he advised me to go to Kabul city because there is no hospital for the treatment of hepatitis in Kapisa, the doctors are very cooperative and medicines are free as well”.
Zabihullah, a resident of Kabul, told Pajhwok he was being treated for jaundice since last three days in the Infectious Disease Hospital.
He added: “I felt a serious pain all over my body and I was inactive, when I came here and tested my blood, the result was positive for jaundice, the hospital provides us free medicine, if any medicine is not available in the hospital, we purchase it from private drugstores”.
Hepatitis C is a contagious virus that is transmitted from one person to another in different ways. Without treatment, viral hepatitis can lead to scarring of the liver, also called cirrhosis, which interferes with liver function.
Untreated hepatitis B or C can also lead to liver cancer. Hepatitis A, B, and C are each caused by a specific type of hepatitis virus.
aw/ma
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