New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS): Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday said free screening services and treatment of Hepatitis B and C will be soon made available for pregnant women in the national capital.

"Delhi government is planning to make mandatory free screening services and treatment available of Hepatitis B and C for pregnant women in order to ensure early diagnosis and treatment so that the child does not get infected with Hepatitis C or can be treated accordingly," Jain said.

He was speaking after releasing a report on "Hepatitis Awareness Activities" on the 24th Hepatitis Day organised by the ILBS hospital.

"Apart from this, the Delhi government will train the staff of Mohalla Clinic to treat this disease along with screening and we will make sure that free medicines are available there to treat the disease at the primary level," Jain said.

"We will devise a mechanism to provide free medicines to patients of Hepatitis B in Mohalla Clinics. Additionally, we will bring Hepatitis under the notifiable disease list of Delhi within the next few months.

"The Delhi government will also integrate the test of Hepatitis with its upcoming Health Management Information System," he said, adding: "By this, we will ensure that every health card holder goes through a hepatitis test, once in a lifetime."

The Minister further emphasised the fact that patients of hepatitis face a lot of discrimination in society and assured that the government will work towards passing of the law for discrimination against Hepatitis B and C patients in Delhi, which will be the first in the country.