MUMBAI, Jan 29: Spurred by the Pulse Polio drive, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will assist the state health department in its massive week-long Anti-Leprosy Drive to eradicate the disease from Mumbai. Beginning tomorrow, also the 50th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi who worked for eradication of leprosy, the statewide drive will continue till February 5, 1998.Speaking at a press meet today, state health director Subhash Salunkhe said, ``Leprosy is curable if treatment isn't delayed. The aim is to eradicate the disease by 1999. The government gives free treatment and surgery to patients.''
Quoting statistics, Salunkhe said in Maharashtra, cases of leprosy are as frequent as six per ten thousand persons. In Mumbai, the ratio is 3.8 per thousand, with 4,000 fresh cases reported every year.
Salunkhe said the incidence of leprosy was high in districts like Mumbai, Thane, Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Wardha, Osmanabad, Bhandara and Raigad, compared to others in the state. Nearly 55,000 healthworkers will participate in the campaign.
Calling for public support, additional commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad said, ``The drive is being run on the same lines as the pulse polio campaign. The BMC has geared its machinery. Around 5,000 volunteers will go from door-to-door identifying suspect cases. Full confirmation of the leprosy will be done at health centres.'' The Anti-Leprosy Drive is also coinciding with the National Cleanliness Week, initiated by Prime Minister I K Gujral.
The objective of the Indian government is to bring down the detection rate to one lakh by 2001. ``With the deformities being brought down from 40 per cent to 2 per cent in 15 years, we hope the disease will be a thing of the past by the turn of the century,'' Dr A R K Pillai, state president of Hind Kusht Nivaran Sangh, said.
A change in society's attitude to leprosy patients is said to be the main reason of the success of the National Leprosy Eradication Programme, according to Dr Pillai. Since most cases are detected at anearly stage, chances of deformities setting in have fallen. A series of effective drug combinations, the latest being ROM, a one-time dosage, have been instrumental in bringing down relapse of the disease to less than 0.01 per cent of the patient population. In addition to thdrive, nearly one lakh volunteers of ALERT-India, a voluntary organisation fighting leprosy for the last 17 years, will conduct a door-to-door survey throughout Mumbai to find out the incidence of the disease. Stalls will be set up at some railway stations by ALERT-India for free checkups.
Incidentally, just 2 per cent of the patient population is from the beggar community.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
