Dr. Bino Andrea Ahmed, physician, and gastroenterologist during an interview with Eye Radio - CREDIT: EyeRadio/Moses Awan - August 2, 2023

A doctor for hepatitis on Monday called on the national Ministry of Health to enforce hepatitis treatment protocols and hold accountable medical practitioners who fail to adhere to guidelines.

Gastroenterologist Dr Bino Andrea Ahmed says some health workers claiming to be specialist doctors provide the wrong medication to extort money from people in Juba.

He advised the public to be aware of money extorters when seeking treatment and vaccination against the viral disease.

According to him, some people have fallen victim to the scam by alleged individuals who claim to treat hepatitis and administer vaccines thereafter.

Dr Bino says some paramedics offer hepatitis patients vaccine before they are treated – a move which, according to him, is contrary to the treatment procedures.

He states that, once a person is tested positive for hepatitis, it is only possible to administer treatment and not a vaccine.

Dr Bino called on the government to disseminate the guidelines for the treatment of hepatitis to direct medical workers in the country.

He also encourages the public to test and ensure early treatment of hepatitis disease before it develops to the deadly stage.

“There is a lot of malpractice concerning hepatitis treatment protocol, ministry of Health and WHO initiated what we called treatment and care guidelines for viral hepatitis in South Sudan in 2020 but the bad thing is they didn’t disseminate the guidelines,” Dr Bino said.

“In other countries specific for diseases like hepatitis all the health personnel are guided by that guideline and if you treat any patient outside that guideline, you should be subjected to the court of law. So, like for example”.

Dr. Bino adds that taking hepatitis vaccines while the viral disease is still active, can accelerate it to another phase.

He says quack doctors are deceiving people about the treatment of hepatitis disease in Juba.

“There is a familiar paramedic clinic here in Juba, claiming that he is a medical doctor, but he is not a medical doctor at Munuki Residential Area,” he said.

“You will approach that paramedic as a hepatitis case and then he will claim that I will give you treatment in two to three months,” he added.

“You pay a certain amount of money and after that period, they inject you with the vaccine and they convince you that you are fully immunized now. Once you are infected with Hepatitis, you cannot receive the vaccine again”.