BS RAWAT
NEW DELHI: The Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences (ILBS) and Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) are preparing to implement the Unitaid-funded HEAD-Start project, which will focus on enhancing the availability and accessibility of hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing. This is being executed in a phased manner across five hospitals run by the Delhi Government.

These hospitals, identified by the Directorate General of Health Services of the Government of Delhi, include Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital, Maharshi Valmiki Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital.

The project contributes to the development of a well-functioning network providing decentralized diagnosis for HCV, with effective linkage to treatment centres in Delhi. A physician and a microbiologist from each hospital have been nominated as nodal officers for the project.  

Dr S K Sarin, Director, ILBS, said, “So far, we have trained 4500 health workers and are running programmes for doctors on liver therapy through live cases and demos. The Delhi Government has been a significant ally in all our initiatives  – our steps are just a small drop as of now, so it is essential to march together as the journey really starts now.”  

Dr Sarin was speaking at a daylong conference “Marching together to achieve Hepatitis C elimination – targets and action” to mark the World Hepatitis Day.

Dr Vikas Sheel, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Health, said, “While access to basic treatment services is available,  we intend to take this initiative further down to sub-district level, starting with all district hospitals, then block and PHC levels.”

Dr. Sanjay Sarin, Head of FIND India, said, “Access to accurate, rapid and inexpensive HCV diagnostics, however, still remains a challenge. Through the Delhi Model under Project Head-Start, we are providing access to HCV screening, diagnosis and treatment, through an innovative decentralized model, to the general population.”