Zahid Minhas, Muhammad Naveed, Muhammad Umar, Hamamatul Bushra Khar, Abrar Akbar, Aamir Rizwan, Ammara Ahmad, Lubna Noor.
Knowledge of Hepatitis C among primary care doctors working in Allied Hospitals of Rawalpindi Medical College, Rawalpindi.
Pak J Gastroenterol Jan ;20(1):63-71.

This study has been conducted among the doctors of allied teaching hospitals of Rawalpindi Medical College in December 2004, i.e. Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi General Hospital and District Head Quarters Hospital Rawalpindi. The purpose of this Cross sectional study was to assess the knowledge of Hepatitis C virus among Primary care doctors. A special designed proforma was pre tested in Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi. The questionnaire was the filled by the doctors of all the three teaching hospitals of Rawalpindi Medical College Rawalpindi. A total of 100 doctors were interviewed among which 41 belonged to Holy Family Hospital, 41 belonged to Rawalpindi General Hospital and 18 belonged to District Head Quarters Hospital Rawalpindi. The response rate was good. The study included 41 (41%) doctors one year after graduation, 29 (29%) 2 year after graduation 26 (26%) 3 years after graduation, one (1%) 4 years after graduation and 3(3%) 5 years after graduation. As for the number of patients seen,29(29%) doctors had seen below 10 Hepatitis C patients, 37(37%) had seen 10-20 patients, and 34(34%) had seen more than 20 patients in past years. 86(86%) graduated from Pakistan, while only 14(14%) graduated from other countries. When asked about testing HCV 56% recommended HCV testing in patients with raised ALT level, 64% in those with history of drug abuse, 55% with a history of blood transfusion, 42% with multiple tattooing while 8% said they would test all the people.70% recommended treating the patients with the combination therapy of alpha interferon and ribavarin while 43% started that information regarding HCV is not enough. It is concluded that most of the primary care residents lack knowledge of recommended guidelines for the management of HCV infected patients and many do not test when required and many test inappropriate situations. Most of the primary care residents are of the view that dissemination of information regarding HCV is inadequate. In view of the current epidemics of HCV and the front line role of the primary care physicians, an intensive educational effort of primary health providers on current guidelines for detection and management is needed.

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would like to know more about the market scenario for liver transplantation in Pakistan...
Posted by: kaberin on Aug 2010

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