Chandigarh: To offer medical benefits to high-risk groups, the Punjab government established 59 hepatitis treatment centres between 2017 and 2020, said Punjab health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu.
He added that the Punjab model was adopted across the country as the Government of India developed a National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme (NVHCP) to treat such patients.
Sidhu informed that Punjab was the first state to initiate free treatment of Hepatitis C in the country. Till date, 1.83 lakh persons have been screened for Hepatitis C and 91,403 patients have been provided free treatment. All the 59 treatment centres are actively functional at 22 district hospitals, 3 GMCs, 13 ART centers, 11 OST sites, 9 central prisons and 1 SDH.