Govt urged to launch Hepatitis 'B' control programme

Wa, Aug. 14, GNA - A Health Worker has suggested to the government to turn its attention to the control of Hepatitis 'B' and 'C' by launching a programme to check their spread. Mr Bernard Puozuing, Principal Blood Donor Organizer of the Regional Hospital at Wa, noted that about ten to 15 per cent of blood collected from donors in the region and screened were often found to contain the hepatitis 'B' or 'C' virus.

According to him, many people did not know the difference between Hepatitis 'B', and some of the common ailments and there was therefore the need to have a programme cast in the mould of the HIV and Malaria control programmes to educate people on it. He made the suggestion in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Wa on Monday on the decreasing incidence of blood donors in the region.

Mr Puozuing said the hospital continued to rely on students from the second cycle institutions in the region for voluntary donations of blood to replenish its depleting stock, because people in the area were often reluctant to donate even for their relatives, who needed blood. "Voluntary blood donors are diminishing here of late because of the people's erroneous perception that disqualification from donating for any reason after screening meant the presence of the HIV", he explained. He said a person could not donate because of several reasons including low HB, low weight and other diseases and not because of HIV alone. He attributed the high incidence of hepatitis 'B' and 'C' cases in the region to social practices and noted that, while the HIV was very negligible among students, who donated blood to the hospital's blood bank, the same could not be said of hepatitis 'B' and 'C' among them. The Principal Blood Bank Organizer said the situation at the blood bank was very serious, now that the students were on holidays and were not available to donate blood and therefore, appealed to the general public to remove the HIV scare from their minds and donate to save lives. 14 Aug. 06