Punjab Government launches Mukh Mantri Punjab Hepatitis C Relief Fund

The Punjab government has launched a special fund “Mukh Mantri Punjab Hepatitis C Relief Fund” to provide free treatment for patients affected by Hepatitis C.
With this initiative, Punjab became the first Indian state to provide free treatment to confirmed cases of Hepatitis C.
Key Facts

• The fund will have initial corpus of 20 crore rupees. This fund will provide all the residents of Punjab affected by Hepatitis C free treatment.
• The scheme is considered important in the public health measures of the state as the prevalence rate of patients affected by Hepatitis could be as high as 3%.
• There might be even up to 10 lakh cases of suspected Hepatitis C in the state of which up to 6 lakh would require treatment.
• It will also help patients to get free treatment as injectable peg-interferon for the disease is very expensive and unaffordable.

About Hepatitis

• Hepatitis is a medical condition in which there occurs inflammation of liver cells and its complications vary with the type of infection.
• There are 5 types of hepatitis viz. A, B, C, D and E. Each type is caused by a different hepatitis virus.
• It is mostly caused by a group of viruses called hepatitis viruses and also be caused by intoxicants like drugs, alcohol, chemicals and other infections and autoimmune diseases.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2016