The cost of medicines for hepatitis is unaffordable for Mexicans

The new direct-acting antiviral treatments for patients with the various types of hepatitis have shown an effectiveness of up to 95 percent cure; However, their high costs make them inaccessible to Mexicans, stated the General Director of the OPD Hospital Civil de Guadalajara, Dr. Héctor Raúl Pérez Gómez.

In a press conference in the framework of World Hepatitis Day, which is commemorated on July 28, Pérez Gómez said that although the cost of antivirals decreased from 500,000 to 150,000 pesos for a 12-week treatment, many sick people cannot afford it, so it It is urgent that there be more subsidies for this type of medication by programs such as Seguro Popular.

“Worldwide, 12 percent of the population is able to access these drugs, but this figure drops to 10 percent of patients in Mexico, because it is very expensive, despite the fact that their costs have decreased significantly. for institutions such as the Civil Hospital, which is attended by the open population”, he stressed.

Pérez Gómez affirmed that the World Health Organization (WHO) considers this disease as a public health problem, due to the fact that one million 300 thousand cases of deaths occur annually due to the different forms of hepatitis, which exceeds the number of deaths that occur due to HIV, and equals the fatalities from tuberculosis.

“Most of the deaths from viral hepatitis, especially chronic hepatitis, are occurring due to advanced cirrhosis and hepatocarcinoma, that is, a form of liver cancer directly related to chronic infection by these viruses,” he said.

In the world, there are 270 million people infected with the hepatitis B virus and around 80 million with hepatitis C, although the best known by the population are acute hepatitis, in which the patient presents symptoms of weakness, loss of vigor, appearance of fever and a yellow color in the skin and eyes.

The President of the Mexican Association of Hepatology, Dr. Graciela Elvia Castro Narro, affirmed that they are working to achieve the objectives of the WHO, tending to increase the detection of hepatitis in 90 percent of cases by 2030 and that patients receive treatment to reduce mortality by 65 percent.

I have stressed that, for this, it is important to consider the risk factors and access to rapid tests that are done in institutions such as the Civil Hospital, to detect the disease in time and that can reduce the possibility of it progressing to liver cirrhosis or some of its complications.

The Coordinator of the Third Symposium for World Hepatitis Day, Dr. José Antonio Velarde Ruiz Velasco, a meeting that took place this Tuesday, July 24, at the Old Fray Antonio Alcalde Civil Hospital, said that the implementation of rapid tests is essential since, For every case of hepatitis C that is detected, there are 17,000 cases that are not known because the disease can take years to manifest itself.

The hospital offered 250 rapid and free tests for the general public, in addition to talks focused on making relatives of patients aware of the condition and its possible complications.