Council Health Committee Probes Hepatitis

Just days after The Queens Courier published a cover story on an epidemic of hepatitis C sweeping the borough’s ethnic communities, the New York City Council’s Health Committee conducted a hearing on the disease with the City’s Health Commissioner as the star witness.
The Committee, expressing concern about the growing number of hepatitis A, B and C in the City, approved a resolution calling on Congress to increase funds for research to help find cures and treatments for the virus.
Queens’ two Committee members, Morton Povman and Julia Harrison, were not in attendance.
Dr. Neil L. Cohen, the Health Commissioner, outlined steps the City is taking to contain the disease. He called Flushing and Elmhurst particularly at risk.
Cohen revealed his department has $1.4 million to plan hepatitis educational and preventive programs
The plan involves the following:
• A review of death certificates to determine the numbers of deaths due to hepatitis.
• Patient testing at sexually transmitted disease clinics.
• HIV counselor training.
• A healthcare promotion campaign to gain awareness of the disease.
Victor Robles, Chair of the Council Health Committee, questioned the validity of the school immunization program. He noted that the City’s junior high schools no longer have school nurses on site to see to it that vaccinations are performed in the schools.
Cohen promised to look into school immunizations and report back to the Committee.