Frustrated over the failure of the Rs 2.5 billion National Programme for the Control and Prevention of Hepatitis (NPCPH) to deliver the goods in the last three years, the Health Ministry bosses and experts are now busy re-designing the current strategy to fight the viral disease whose sufferers are around 15 million in Pakistan.

In August 2005, the ministry had launched the five-year NPCPH to contain growing cases of hepatitis, especially hepatitis C, in the country and provide patients with inexpensive treatment.