The Health Ministry launched a campaign on Saturday to examine residents in Barageel village, Minya to find those carrying the Hepatitis C virus. This comes within the ministry’s plan to reach out to patients nationwide and treat them free of charge.
Health Minister Ahmed Emad Eddin Rady said the campaign has been launched after the success of the treatment program carried out by the ministry to treat around one million patients, adding that there are no longer any waiting lists for Hepatitis C patients.
The ministry’s plan, according to Rady, targets reaching the global rates of recovery by 2020 through two points of action. The first is examining first-year students at universities, prisoners, those who seek to travel abroad, blood donors, patients at hospitals, and workers in the health sector. These demographics are estimated at 4 million people across nine of Upper Egypt's provinces, including Minya. The second point is to reach patients in villages. The campaign targets 5.5 million patients.
Rady ordered that the survey be expidited in Minya during June by distributing brochures to raise awareness about the virus and inform residents about protection and prevention. People will be urged to undergo the examination by teams from the health department.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
