The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) yesterday said it is to extend the eligibility for the government-funded hepatitis B and C screening program, allowing people aged 45 to 79 to get tested for free.
The program that started in 2011 is currently limited to people aged 45 to 54.
At the Liver Disease Prevention and Treatment Research Foundation’s 26th Anniversary event in Taipei yesterday, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said the HPA is expanding the eligibility so that people can get treatment as early as possible.
Starting from September, people born in or before 1966 would be eligible, he said.
HPA Deputy Director-General Chia Shu-li (賈淑麗) said that in the past few years, cases of liver cirrhosis in people aged 55 to 60 have increased, leading to the decision to expand the program.
Due to the nation’s aging population and a longer life expectancy, the HPA deemed that the upper age limit was no longer suitable, she said.
The HPA expects that an additional 560,000 people could receive a free tests between September and the end of next year, Chia said, adding that with the current positivity rate of hepatitis C tests at about 3.7 to 4 percent, an additional 17,000 to 20,000 hepatitis C virus carriers could be detected.
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