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Patients with liver diseases, especially those who are affected with hepatitis virus C (HVC), are suffering from several medical problems and, accordingly, go to different hospitals looking for treatment.
There is treatment available for HVC in the form of medication known as Interferon, but a single injection costs LE1,300 ($236). Therefore, few patients can afford to buy it and poor patients have no other way than being treated at the state's expense.Patients also suffer from the centres that are providing Interferon being overcrowded.Al-Ahrar, the Liberal Party opposition newspaper, has highlighted the patients' complaints and their suffering in receiving the medication, especially given that their number has reached nine million.Sabah Mursi said that when she was in her mid fourties she contracted HVC.“Now, I am suffering from liver cirrhosis plus inflammation of the spleen. The doctors have decided that I must take Interferon to stop the activity of the virus,” Sabah said. She was referred to Al-Fatemia hospital, at Darassa in the Islamic Cairo area, to get the treatment. Since last February, she has not received any medication. In addition, she could not purchase Interferon due its high price.Saadia el-Shafei, 52, said that one year ago, she underwent medical check The tests showed that she was infected with HVC, so the specialists asked her to make a PCR blood test. She did this at her own expense, although she has no source of income.Moustafa Imam, a third patient, said that the disease hit him in February. while he did not get any Interferon Every week, he comes to Cairo from Beni Soueif, the Upper Egyptian governorate to get the medicine. Moustafa appealed to the Ministry of Health to provide patients with Interferon in their own governorates instead of having to make this long weekly trip.Ali Maher has a different story saying that a year ago he discovered that he is afflicted with HVC after he donated blood at the National Centre in the Agouza area, Giza.“The centre phoned and told me that I am infected with HVC and the virus is very active,” he said. Maher made a general check up at the Theodor Bilharz Institute in the Imbaba district, where the doctors referred him to Al-Fatemia hospital. He has not yet received Interferon and observed that the number of patients with HVC is constantly increasing.Hani Shehata, who graduated from the university two years ago, noted that several steps have to be followed to get Interferon.He hopes that new centres will be opened to treat patients particularly those who are suffering from HVC. “The decision of patients getting treatment at the state's expense is issued within a month. Then they have to wait for another month to get the Interferon,” he added. Shehata questions why do officials not simplify the medical procedures in order to treat patients quickly. Another patient, Khaled Abdel- Aziz said that he was diagnosed with the disease ten months ago. “I came all the way from Qaliubia governorate (Greater Cairo) in order to receive treatment on the state's expense,” Abdel-Aziz added. “The specialists hospitalised me for 15 days then referred me to Al-Fatemia hospital to obtain Interferon, but I have not got it yet.” He called for patients to be referred to hospitals nation-wide because the Cairo hospitals are over crowded.Dr Nouran el-Ghandour, a professor of abdominal diseases in Cairo University Medical School, said that the HVC was discovered in Egypt in the early 1990s. The number of HVC patients have mainly increased due to the widespread use of contaminated blood, or using the same syringes and tooth brushes by more than one. Dr Abdel-Hamid Abaza, a liver diseases consultant, who is in charge of the preventive policies' committee in the Ministry of Health, noted that the Ministry has launched a number of national campaigns to fight HVC including accurate examination of blood from donors. Dr Abdel-Hamid added that there are 16 nation-wide centres for the treatment of HVC patients free of charge. He observed that the ministry has cut the costs of HVC treatment by one third to help poor patients.
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