Medical practitioners trained on Hep-C treatment
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 11 2017:
With an aim to build the skill set of physicians to treat viral Hepatitis- C by using direct acting antiviral (DAAs) in addition to preparing a pool of physicians willing to treat viral Hepatitis-C in the State, Community Network for Empowerment (CoNE) in consultation with Directorate of Health Service organised a one day orientation for medical officers on Hep-C screening, diagnostics and treatment at Hotel Classic today .
In its effort to further expand the access to treatment, CoNE has been organising a series of training for medical doctors from different districts of the State including rural and hills areas on how to use these DAAs for the treatment of Hepatitis C .
Associate Professor & Gastroenterologist, RIMS Dr Karam Romeo Singh and Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, JNIMS, Dr Kh Lokeshwar Singh were present as resource persons.
Altogether, 21 medical practitioners from different districts of the State including Imphal West, Imphal East, Thoubal, Churachandpur, Tamenglong, Senapati and Ukhrul participated in the training programme .
Despite the prevailing Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) situation in the State, lack of knowledge about the latest development on HCV treatment using DAAs is extremely low as a result there is no demand for HCV treatment from people living with HCV.
Access to HCV treatment using DAAs offering the potential to move from complex treatment to more effective and better tolerated all oral regimens that will potentially treat all genotypes of the disease and eliminate the use of injectable has now become a reality in the state .
However, due to lack of trained physicians who are aware of providing HCV treatment using DAAs, opening the door for many more HCV positive patients to receive life-saving treatment in the State is very limited.
CoNE believes that with continuous medical education on HCV treatment using DAAs among the medical doctors in rural and hill districts, HCV treatment can be critically transformed in Manipur.