"Used syringes put 90% of drug addicts at risk of hepatitis C" | Chandigarh News

Ludhiana: 90% of injecting drug users (IDUs) are still at high risk of contracting hepatitis C and even have a chance of becoming HIV positive. Physicians treating addicts at the opioid substitution therapy center (OST) of the civilian hospital have stated that they have been treating IDU since 2010 and they perform blood tests of these patients at regular intervals of 6 months to keep an eye on their diseases. If hepatitis C is not treated properly, it can turn into a liver cancer that can prove fatal.

According to available data on the tests carried out in this center, out of 416 drug addicts, 358 were found to have hepatitis C during the last six months. In this way, about 86% of drug addicts were found suffering from this disease. Drug addicts receive a three-month treatment at this center.

Similarly, they are likely to be infected with HIV, which can later lead to AIDS. Although officials refused to provide accurate data on HIV-positive patients, they said that 10% of patients are at risk of contracting the infection because they use "used" syringes.

The head of the TSO center, Dr. S S Dhir, said that drug addicts suffer essentially from a manageable chronic relapsing disorder and that in this center they are told to regularly check their health status. He said that they performed the tests every six months and followed up so that the patients did not suffer from major health problems. Dr. Dhir added that drug addicts also suffer from malnutrition, badually transmitted diseases and epileptic seizures. "We have to treat them with sympathy so that they can be treated," he said.

Notably, the center has been operating since August 2010 under the umbrella of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), where addicts and their family members receive counseling sessions and at the center of integrated care, tests are performed on patients. The fundamental purpose of this center is to give drugs to oral addicts, so that they have to stay away from injections because these are more harmful.