Health ministry of India has decided to launch a scheme under which in India will be provided to affected persons. The free Hepatitis C treatment scheme will be launched this year.
A budget of Rs. 600 Crore has been approved for the next three years for National Programme for Control of Viral Hepatitis. As per the cost, the treatment of Hepatitis C costs $63,000-94,000 for the full course in the US and Europe but, health ministry will be providing the treatment to affected people free of cost.
As per the reports, in India there are about 1.2 crore people suffering from Hepatitis C which is six times more than the HIV/AIDS patients. The government is on a talk with Indian companies that are involved in manufacturing of Sofosbuvir on behalf of American pharma giant Gilead and will negotiate the price with them.
About Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is caused by a blood-borne virus. It put a bad effect on liver and damages it. The caused of its spread includes use of injectable drugs, unsafe injection practises, unsafe health care, and transfusion of unscreened blood and blood products. But unlike Hepatitis B it don’t get spread through sexual transmission.
Right now there is no proper medicine to cure Hepatitis C. It causes liver cancer or cirrhosis of the liver. As per the reports released by WHO World health Organization annually 3,99,000 Hepatitis C deaths occur in the world.
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