PANAJI
Goa has reported no fatalities due to Hepatitis B over the last five years and more since April 2019, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel, told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
According to the data provided by Patel in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, several other states have witnessed a sudden spurt in Hepatitis B deaths, including Gujarat (132 deaths last year), Madhya Pradesh, which had 247 deaths, and Rajasthan, with 176 deaths.
Patel said the central government had launched the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme in 2018, which offers diagnostic and treatment services for hepatitis C, A, and E. It was expanded to include the diagnosis and management of hepatitis B in 2019, she added.
Meanwhile, another Minister of State in the Union Ministry for Health and Family Welfare, Prataprao Jadhav, said Goa received approximately Rs 750-odd crore in financial assistance from the Centre for health in the five-year period between 2019-20 and 2023-24.
