Islamabad, June 7 (IANS). Patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS) in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have raised concerns over the rising cost of treatment and lack of modern treatment facilities. Patients and their families have called on the government to provide financial support to protect young patients from preventable disabilities.
According to Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune, doctors estimate the number of MS patients in Pakistan to be between 12,000 and 14,000, although there is no comprehensive national data available on the disease.
Experts say that the treatment of a patient can cost around 10 lakh Pakistani rupees annually. Some patients are getting treatment under the provincial health card program, but doctors and patients’ rights organizations say the amount received under the scheme does not cover the full cost of treatment.
Apart from this, there is also lack of modern treatment facilities in government hospitals. Due to lack of adequate financial assistance, many patients are forced to stop treatment midway. Neurologists say that due to this the disease can progress rapidly and the patient’s condition can become serious.
Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord. Its symptoms may vary from person to person and depend on the severity of the damage to the nerves.
Common symptoms of this disease include vision problems, extreme fatigue, difficulty walking and maintaining balance, numbness or weakness in hands and legs.
According to experts, the exact causes of MS are not yet clear, but the risk may increase if someone in the family has the disease. According to WHO, there is no permanent cure for this disease, but treatment can control the symptoms, reduce the chances of disease relapse and improve the quality of life of the patient.
According to the report, in the month of April, an increase of 50 percent to 500 percent was recorded in the prices of many medicines in the open market of Pakistan and the medicine center Bohar Bazaar of Rawalpindi.
The prices of medicines for diabetes, high blood pressure, antibiotics, stomach related diseases and cough have also increased significantly. The price of insulin injection device has increased from 2,200 Pakistani rupees to 4,720 Pakistani rupees.
Critics have termed this price hike as “unbearable” for the common people, saying that insulin devices costing Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 are becoming out of reach of low-income patients. He has demanded the government to intervene and control the prices of essential medicines.
–IANS
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