Wockhardt, Indian Medical Council, the Lions Club and the Rotary Club are planning to conduct immunisation camps on a very big scale for Hepatitis B, on April 7th and 8th. It is proposed to distribute the make the medicine available at concessional prices, besides giving out the syringes, free of cost.

Dr. V. A. Narayanan of Ramachandra Medical College says that at least 10 cases of hepatitis B are reported every month, in Ramachandra alone. Government has assessed that a minimum of 5 deaths occur due to this disease every month. Surveys reveal that at least one in twenty is affected by the hepatitis B virus. At the national level, it is estimated that around 4.5 crores are affected by the virus. The aspect that causes concern is that symptoms of the virus affecting a person do not become apparent until it is late. More over, the possibility of the virus spreading to others living close by is very high.

The above three organisations have combined to put their best foot forward in arresting the spread of the dreaded disease. For an effective control of the disease, each person should be inoculated thrice within a period of 6 months.

The World Health Organisation recommended to 116 countries in 1991, to include Hepatitis B in their regular inoculation programmes. Unfortunately India did not find a place in the list of the 116 countries.

This campaign will be conducted in various centres in the city, by experts in the field. The dosage for children will be made available at Rs.50/- (as against the regular price of Rs.200/-) and for adults at Rs.100/- (as against the regular price of Rs.300/-).

The address and other details of the centres will be published in Dina Thandhi and Dina Malar, on April 7th.

Please call the following numbers for further details:

4997926/ 27/ 28

Chennai citizens are requested to make effective use of this opportunity.

Saravanan

translated by Hari Krishnan