Dr. Wahid Doss, head of the Viral Hepatitis National Committee, said he aims to treat 300,000 to 500,000 patients in 2016, calling on civil society organizations to help achieve this goal, as the government alone cannot afford the cost of treating such a large number of patients.
He also said the committee imports any new drug that is discovered after proving its effectiveness on second generation patients and makes sure it is sold at affordable prices.
He hopes to announce that Egypt is free of Hepatitis C seven years from now. “It is spreading at a rate of 7 percent,” he said. “But we have 44 medical centers in all governorates, with 1,500 specialized doctors working in them.”
Committee member Dr. Gamal Esmat said only one out of six million people know they have Hepatitis C. “They should find out soon because the cure rate is 100 percent if detected early,” he said.
“While treatment of a patient costs the government LE50,000, it saves LE500,000 because one patient can infect three or four others,” he explained.
Committee member Dr. Manal Hamdy al-Sayed said parenteral injection will be by self-destructing syringes, supported by the World Health Organization.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
