A new strong ray of hope has come in controlling the epidemic of chronic hepatits C in various part of India which includes haryana & Punjab. Further elaborating about it, Dr. Parveen Malhotra, Head, Departmentof Medical Gastroenterology and Principal Nodal officer of Jeevan Rekha project of Haryana Government told it is the availability of combination of oral drugs i.e. Sofosbuvir with Ledipasvir/Daclatasvir at much economical prices. These drugs are being given free by to SC/BPL patients and at subsidized prices to general category patients i.e. Rs 8800/month and total Rs 26,000 for total duration of 12 weeks which is lowest not only in India but in world also. Even all the viral load and genotype testing, Endoscopy and Fibroscan are also being done free of cost. Patients suffering from hepatitis B also are being treated at a meagre price of Rs 500/month. As this disease is mainly seen in patients belonging to poor socio-economic status, thus many patients will be able to afford it who are not covered under free scheme of govt. This project is unique and has been appreciated by various international organizations like MSF and Clinton foundation. Uptill now the treatment was with Pegylated Interferon & ribavarin which has lot of side effects and cost was also more.There are many patients who never took treatment or left in between due to side effects of Pegylated Interferon. Moreover, these Pegylated interferon cannot be given or are not much successful when there is advanced liver damage but these new oral drugs are successful in all these group of patients. The Jeevan Rekha scheme of Haryana government against hepatitis C is giving new life to thousands of patients suffering from this deadly disease.Uptillnow 5000 patients have successfully completed the treatment, which makes PGIMS, Rohtak, one of the selected centers in India where such huge number of patients are being treated at on time and that too with massive success. The patients are also coming for treatment from nearby states like Punjab, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh Moreover, round the clock, India’s first dedicated hepatitis C helpline has also been opened for needy patients (08950012900).
