Medical expert urges government to subsidise treatment of hepatitis 

A medical expert, Dr. Roheem Yussuf, has urged the government at all levels to subsidise the treatment of hepatitis to support the have-nots in the society.

Yussuf who is a senior doctor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Osun state University Teaching Hospital, stated that subsidising the treatment would help in preventing untimely death.

He stated this at the 39th anniversary of Akhbaru-deen ‘Existence In Dawah Activities’ of Akhbaru-deen Muslim Society, Osogbo, Sunday.

He advised people to go for medical checkups to know their status on Hepatitis B, saying that early detection would help in managing the disease.

The medical expert who lamented the cost of medications for the treatment of Hepatitis B added that the best way to reduce casualty occasioned by the disease is to subsidise the treatment.

He said: “The common course of hepatitis that we know is the one that is caused by infectious agents which include bacteria, virus, fungal and other viruses that attack the livers.

“We want the government to also look for a way of subsidising some of the investigations that we do to evaluate patients for hepatitis B, including the treatment, to make treatment available free of charge.

“This is what we want the government to improve on. The government has been trying to sensitise people on World hepatitis-B Day. It has been commemorated every July 28 and government should do more by subsidising the treatment or making them free. One of the problems we have with the treatment is the cost of the medications,” he said.