Hello, this is Dr. Mohit Shetty, medical gastroenterologist and hepatologist at the Department of Gastroenterology, Manipal Hospital, Bangaluru. Today, on account of World Liver Day, I'd like to speak a few words about the liver disease that we commonly encounter in our clinical practice here in this hospital. As you know, liver disease is gradually increasing and one of the reasons for that is our lifestyle measures and our eating habits. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is emerging as the main cause of cirrhosis of liver, which means scarring of the liver in our community. This is in India as well as worldwide. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, as the name suggests, is in people who don't drink alcohol, who may be obese, as well as have metabolic syndromes like diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, etc. It can happen in people who are lean as well. The fat in the liver predisposes to inflammation, followed by ongoing damage, which takes years and years to develop into scarring and leads to cirrhosis and portal hypertension and its consequences. So therefore, the management should begin before the metabolic syndrome starts off. Constant monitoring, regular health checkups, eating good diet, eating healthy diet, eating right is something that we should all follow. The next important aspect is that of exercise in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Even though there is no weight loss, there is still improvement in the liver health by exercising. So I cannot stress enough to people about lifestyle measures including diet and exercise in the management of fatty liver or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. So this being the most important and emerging incidence in our country, this is of paramount importance. The other causes of liver disease, as we all know, are the hepatitis B and C, which have got some treatment now and people are generally aware of this treatment, but it needs a blood test to confirm whether somebody is positive for it or not. The hepatitis C has good treatment now and new treatments are in the pipeline. The hepatitis B on the other hand has medicines just to control the virus to prevent ongoing liver damage and the new treatment to eradicate hepatitis B is still under the phase of development. The next cause of the liver disease being very common is the alcoholic liver disease, which by awareness has now reduced in proportion, however, is still a dominant cause of liver disease. The amount of alcohol, the duration of drinking as well as the frequency of drinking determines the alcohol liver damage and therefore drinking in moderation or not drinking at all is something we would advise. Once the liver disease starts, complete cessation of alcohol is something we should be carried out and we help patients with this including behavioral therapy modifications. There are other rare causes and causes which are due to genetic reasons also which cause liver disease which are fairly less common and can be managed accordingly. So on account of World Health Day, I would like to stress on lifestyle modifications for a better and healthy liver. Please remember a healthy liver is a healthy body. Thank you.


The federal government has declared Friday, October 1 as a public holiday to mark the nation's 61st Independence anniversary celebration. Minister of Interior Raouf Aribushala made a declaration on behalf of the federal government. In a statement issued on his behalf by Dr. Shuaib Balgore, the permanent secretary of the ministry, the minister congratulated all Nigerians on this year's celebration and assured of the government's commitment to tackle and eradicate all forms of challenges. The minister said though celebrating Nigeria's 61st Independence Anniversary is necessary, the safety of the citizenry was a person's huge concern, especially with COVID-19 3rd Delta variant.