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In 2010, Amitabh Bachchan created a stir in the media when he revealed he had liver cirrhosis. Culprit? Not the usual alcohol (Bachchan is a teetotaler) but hepatitis B, a chronic liver disease he has been suffering from for the last two decades. And on Monday, he made the startling revelation that more than 75% of his liver has been destroyed by the disease.
Bachchan senior was addressing the media at the launch of the hepatitis campaign of the Union Health Ministry in association with UNICEF. He recalled how he contracted the disease:
The superstar was all praise for the medical facilities and expertise in India and said they were second to none when it comes to treating patients infected with tuberculosis and hepatitis.
India has over 40 million hepatitis B infected patients (second only to China) and constitutes about 15% of the entire pool of hepatitis B in the world.
According to the World Health Organisation, around one lakh Indians die of hepatitis every year. Four to six crore people in the country are carriers of this viral disease, and most of them are unaware of their infection, putting them at serious risk of developing liver cirrhosis or liver cancer.
Yet the government doesn’t even have a hepatitis policy or an eradication goal.
India did not have proper facilities to screen blood for the hepatitis virus till 1996. A vast majority of those infected with hepatitis C are baby boomers, according to the WHO. Most like Bachchan, were infected decades ago, and many got it from blood transfusions that they received before 1996, when donated blood was not screened for the virus.
Viral hepatitis is three times more infectious than HIV and has surpassed HIV, malaria and tuberculosis as a leading cause of death from an infectious disease. And yet, the government does not have a national policy on hepatitis or a goal to eradicate it.
40% infants not vaccinated against hepatitis A and B: Both these strains have a preventive vaccine under the government’s immunisation programme; yet according to the health ministry’s own records, only 60% newborns were vaccinated against hepatitis B in 2014. With no national policy for screening, zero awareness for recognising symptoms and early diagnosis, this is a ticking time bomb.
Hepatitis deaths are not reported to a central agency: No government agency maintains the record of hepatitis deaths. The figures which are available are estimates by the WHO based on the data reported at the regional/district level. The actual number of hepatitis cases might be much higher.
International funding for hepatitis is minuscule. Life saving drugs are so expensive and inaccessible that not being HIV positive has become a cruel public health irony.
Lack of testing facilities: The WHO says there are few labs to test the virus in India and the available test is only 80% precise.
Related Read: Expensive to Treat, Hepatitis Could Soon Be an Epidemic in India
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