Chandigarh, May 18:- The Union Territory of Chandigarh has got rid of the scourge of leprosy. The report compiled by the Health Ministry, Government of India, for 2008-09, ranks Chandigarh among the States and Union Territories which have been successful in eliminating leprosy. Derived from the Greek word “lepi” which means scales on the body of a fish, leprosy is caused by bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and has skin lesions as visible symptom.Coming as it does close on the heels of the announcement that Chandigarh has contained tuberculosis, it has given health care in City Beautiful a big shot in the arm. In the cattle segment, the UT has been declared free from deadly rinderpest.
“Any state or UT is declared having eliminated leprosy on the basis of the prevalence rate (PR) of the disease. The benchmark PR of less than one per 10,000 population has been set by the Union Health Ministry to qualify for the elimination stage. The PR in the Union Territory of Chandigarh in 2008-09, thanks to the concerted efforts made by the administration, came down to 0.28 per 10,000 population, much lower than the benchmark”, Mr Ram Niwas, Secretary Health, UT, said here today.
According to the report, the PR came down to 0.28 per 10,000 population in 2008-09 from 1.63 in 2006-07 and 1.23 in 2007-08. While 171 new leprosy cases were detected in 2006-07, 140 in 2007-08 and 32 were detected in 2008-09. The annual new case detection rate (ANCDR) in Chandigarh came down to 3.25 per lakh from 20.27 per lakh in 2006-07, and 16.70 in 2007-08, Dr S.D. Mehta, State Leprosy Officer, disclosed.
In all, 28 states and UTs have attained the level of leprosy elimination and 487 districts out of 611 have been identified as high priority zones where intensified block leprosy awareness campaign has been conducted. The report also says that only 21 districts in seven states have PR higher than two per 10,000 population, 7,318 ‘others cases’ were recorded for treatment during 2008-09, 5,963 (81.43 per cent) completed their treatment on time and were released from treatment (RFT) as cured.
The report goes on to state how new leprosy cases, detected in 2008-09 in Chandigarh, indicated the proportion of PB (less or not infective at all) 25 per cent which was 30 per cent in 2006-07; only six per cent children suffered from leprosy and the percentage of affected female was 37 in 2008-09. The visible deformity came down to six per cent from 14 per cent in 2007-08.
Dr Manjit Singh Bains, Director, Health and Family Welfare, UT, said, “An added point of satisfaction is that the GMCH-32 is doing free reconstructive surgeries (RCS). More than 25 such surgeries were performed till date. The Union Ministry of Health has sanctioned Rs 5,000 for each surgery and an equal amount for each patient to meet the post-operative and follow-up expenses,” Dr Bains disclosed.
The Chandigarh Administration had formed the State Health Society (SHS) under the National Rural Health Mission in 2005 for eradication of leprosy. Chandigarh has three specialized leprosy treatment centres, at the PGI, in GMSH Sector 16, and GMCH Sector 32. Lending thrust to the eradication leprosy campaign, four more reporting centres equipped with fully trained leprosy staff have been functioning, Dr Bains said.
Some innovative activities of SHS include involvement of NSS volunteers of various colleges and school children of Chandigarh in the anti-leprosy campaign in slums and two leprosy films of one-minute-duration each, prepared on the themes given by Dr Mehta and shown on cable TV. The films have been highly appreciated by the Central Leprosy Division and WHO representatives who attended the NLEP meeting at Trivandrum in Kerala.
For disability prevention and medical rehabilitation (DPMR) of leprosy patients, under 11th plan of Govt. of India (April 2007 to March 2012)the SHS in last two years provided 83 pairs of protective footwear free of cost to the new/old leprosy cases. 14 patients were provided with foot-drop splints/gutter splints/digital loop splints/spectacles and 160 patients were given self care and dressing kits.