Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 31: Doctors have said that blood banks were responsible for the Hepatitis C epidemic in the Valley as blood screening was still done by enzyme immunoassay technique.
President Doctors Association Kashmir Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan today in a statement said that Blood Banks screen donated blood for Hepatitis C by enzyme immunoassay which can give false negative results therefore donated blood was a huge source of the virus’ transmission.
The president said Blood Banks should screen donated blood by NAT technology to prevent any further transfusion related transmission of virus. Government should close all unhygienic clinics and cancel license of retail shops involved in poor health practices.
“Hepatitis C is a silent killer as it rarely presents with symptoms until it leads to dreaded complications of cirrhosis and liver cancer. There is neither any effective vaccine nor post exposure prophylaxis available against hepatitis C virus so efforts should be placed on preventing hepatitis C infection.”
The DAK demanded mass screening for Hepatitis C, seeing the enormous burden of this virus in the region.
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