Leprosy Mailing List – December 14th,
2006
Ref.: Is the
“leprosy elimination strategy” adequate in Andhra Pradesh? - Solution!
From: Narasimha Rao P.,
Hyderabad, India
Dear Salvatore,
I refer to Mr Ramprasad Vasa's e-mails:
LML, Nov. 11th and Dec. 7th, 2006, and the responses it generated.
It is nice of Mr Ram Prasad to have
highlighted the problem of registration of cases of Leprosy. I can understand to some
extent the problems for such medical officers in acting against the
directives of authorities. He raised a very important question:
“Is the present Elimination strategy adequate in Andhra Pradesh?”.
I would like to extend this question to whole of India. Is it adequate for Indian
leprosy programme? Although
many people raised questions about certain aspects of new leprosy
programme (Reuters article about leprosy in India – LML Dec. 1st
2006), the fact remains that most people who matter tend to keep
silent on this issue.
Mr Ram Prasad is not alone in having
such dissatisfaction with the present policy to eliminate leprosy form
India. The reasons why we
are not hearing other similar voices form other parts of India is
because:
a)
leprosy workers (Medical
officers or basic leprosy workers) do not like to displease the
authorities for obvious reasons by airing their views; and
b)
many of these people have
no access to express their grievances through media or internet (with
all the Information Technology explosion in India, very few people in
India are internet / computer savvy); or
c)
simply do not care to express
them, as they know that it is futile many a time to do so.
No wonder we do not get such mails from states such as Bihar or
Chhattisgarh.
Other day, in a meeting of
leprosy workers, a very senior leprosy worker holding an important
post in an international NGO was heard saying that leprosy
workers in Andhra Pradesh are resistant to change, and hence all
such negative reports are coming out of this state. If such is the attitude of the
people of a NGO, you can understand the how similar `negative
thoughts` will be discouraged by the state machinery.
The solution: -
In my opinion, the solution for these
problems lies somewhere else. It
is with the people who advise the Government of India (GOI) in such
matters. Those authorities who advise, fund and direct the
programme should realize that most state level officers and
authorities only follow directives from GOI which in turn follows the
advises and suggestions of WHO or its subsidiaries or partners. Let it be very clear; GOI
including health authorities of India have immense faith in WHO, and
rightly so. They fund
very important programmes in India and are of great help in many ways. If only these advisers take
a closer look at their directives/advises given in last few years,
which has radically changed the approach to leprosy in India, many of
these problems can be avoided and solved.
P.
Narasimha Rao
NB
As some negative reports are arising
from Andhra Pradesh there is an opinion that something is wrong with
leprosy programme of Andhra Pradesh.
Which of course, is not true. Leprosy programme in
Andhra Pradesh is one of the better managed programmes
on the whole. However, as more reports emanate from this state,
we are regarded with suspicion as trouble makers. People who run/direct the
leprosy programme should not be so sensitive to criticism. It is not
persons one is criticizing but the way the programme is being managed
and the justifications (or lack of it) put forward. My belief is that someone
should bring forward these issues to the fore, which may actually help
to reassess the situation by this feed back.
