On World Hepatitis B Day on 28th July 2015, Tibet Charity carried out a mass screening and vaccination program for the Tibetans in and around Dharamsala. 776 people were tested for the presence of the Hepatitis B virus, out of which 740 people tested negative and 36 were diagnosed positive. Those who tested positive were advised to go for further tests and those found negative were advised to go for vaccination.
Tibet Charity requested Bristols-Myers Squibb India Private Limited through Ms Anita Sharma to consider providing vaccines at a discounted rate and they very kindly agreed to provide the vaccinations at Rs. 105 per vaccine which also included the cost of syringe against market rate of Rs. 200 + . Tibet Charity agreed to follow up with the remaining doses of vaccines for those who received vaccination this time.
Details of people tested and vaccinated are as under:
S. No. | Place | No. of people tested | No. of people vaccinated |
1. | Tibet Charity House (General Public) | 126 | Nil |
2. | Dip-Tsechokling Monastery | 35 | 15 |
3. | Gadhen Choeling Nunnery | 100 | 42 |
4. | Nechung Monastery | 43 | Nil |
5. | Gadhong Monastery | 12 | Nil |
6. | Chime Gatseling Monastery | 63 | 59 |
7. | Shugseb Nunnery | 72 | Nil |
8. | Jonang Monastery | 16 | Nil |
9. | Dolmaling Nunnery | 42 | Nil |
10. | Namgyal Monastery | 162 | 64 |
11. | Trilokpur Nunnery | 70 | Nil |
12. | Tibet Charity students | 35 | 11 |
T O T A L | 776 | 191 |
Tibet Charity wishes to thank Bristols-Myers Squibb India Private Limited and Ms Anita Sharma for providing the testing kits free of cost and the latter for taking time to test the public. We also thank them for providing vaccines at a discounted rate.
The staff of Tibet Charity Healthcare Section distributed information leaflets related to hepatitis-B besides providing necessary education regarding prevention and treatment of the disease.