Number of Hepatitis over 10m: PMA

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has said that the number of patients, suffering from Hepatitis, has mounted to over 10 million, for which the association held responsible the use of substandard syringes, Geo News reported Monday.

Ministry of Health has completely failed to address this threatening issue, PMA said and revealed that there were laws against use of sub-standard syringes but no implementation at all.

To a press conference here, the president PMA, Dr. Arshad Rana, said health ministry made it mandatory for syringes manufacturer companies to obtain registration for manufacturing syringes but, all the same, the ministry has failed to get the law implemented.

Also, Dr. Arshad alleged DG Health of taking commission worth million rupees in exchange of extending date for renewal of registration after every 4 months.

Government should immediately ban illegal manufacturing of syringes in Pakistan, he appealed, saying that over 80 percent diseases are being caused by usage of poor quality syringes.