BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
A consultant gastroenterologist at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Dr Adesegun Adekale, has warned that hepatitis patients may soon begin to flee hospitals if the government fails to fund their treatment.
In an exclusive interview with The Point, Adekale urged the Federal Government to prioritise hepatitis treatment same way it did for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in a bid to curb the spread of the disease in the country.
He expressed worries on reported cases of deaths of hepatitis patients as a result of their inability to bear high cost of treatment, while also noting that some of the patients end up developing cancer.
He said in Egypt and Asia, the governments sponsored mass screening and treatment for hepatitis B. The consultant, who described hypertitis as curable disease, said, “These countries (Asia and Egypt) have witnessed drastic fall in the prevalence of hapatitis. I can confirm to you that the birth dose with other doses in hepatitis in Nigeria is around 54 perc ent, but it is unfortunate that Nigeria is still not doing well in this regard.
“Government should take ownership of this disease (hepatitis), either by funding it or by getting funding from other sources, so that the patients would not worry about the treatment of hepatitis.”
The physician added, “Women will get married and some of them have hepatitis. They will conceive and pass hepatitis to their unborn babies. Everyday people are getting married in our society, they are conceiving and having babies, so, if we don’t do anything, hepatitis will continue to damage many lives.
“We have to be up and doing in Nigeria and do something on time. People are getting new infections everytime and solution must be provided urgently. The damage that hepatitis is doing is very deadly; government should take total charge.”
He recommended that the Federal Government should prioritise the treatment of hepatitis right from birth. According to him, the treatment of hepatitis should include supply of vaccines to babies in the womb in order to prevent the spread of the virus.”
