Health Minister Abdullah Nazim have said that work has been done to eradicate hepatitis from Maldives, but a lot of work still needs to be done to eradicate the disease completely. He said that cooperation is needed from all relevant authorities to do this.
Speaking at the ceremony held at Hotel Jen to mark World Hepatitis day, the minister said that important steps needs to be taken to ensure that the disease does not spread from the expats working in Maldives. “There are expats in Maldives that are equivalent to 33 percent of the populations. So we need to focus on their health as well. If we are careless then it will affect the Maldivian health sector. We should face this reality” said the minister.
Nazim said that they are trying to vaccinate all healthcare professionals and asked all institutions in Maldives to cooperate with that. In addition he said that all health institutions should put more effort in providing information about hepatitis.
Since 1993, people are being vaccinated for hepatitis in Maldives. He said that the vaccination rate of Maldives is above 98 percent since then.
Nazim said that children should be vaccinated and asked parents not to be careless about it. “To eradicate communicable diseases vaccine is important and hence I call everyone to prioritize it” said Nazim.
Nazim said that since Hepatitis can infect an unborn baby through a pregnant mother and hence pregnant ladies should be screened and even when transfusing blood.
A lot of work needs to be done to eradicate hepatitis from Maldives : Health Minister
