Title - New lab to slash treatment cost for hepatitis patients

KOLKATA:
In addition, LFWB will also talk with concerned authorities to include hepatitis/liver patients in categories of patients who are offered concession on travel by train. As of now, these patients are not included in the list of 50 diseases that are eligible for the 75% concession on railway ticket. According to the hepatitis registry started by LFWB on July 28, 2011, 2200 hepatitis B and 800 hepatitis C patients have registered themselves in the past one year.
****************Hepatitis B and C have been prevalent in the state for some time now, but the government has hardly taken any decisive step over the years to facilitate treatment of these fatal diseases. As a result, the patients are forced to pay through their nose for tests that they need to undergo at least four times a year.

However, the plight of hepatitis patients may ease to some extent soon with Liver Foundation of West Bengal (LFWB) taking up the initiative to open a molecular virology lab in the city on Saturday, the World Hepatitis Day. Installed at the organization's headquarters on Kyd Street, tests at the lab will cost a fifth of what private laboratories charge.