Leprosy
Mailing List, April 11th, 2008
Ref.:
Burden of Leprosy
Disabilities in Rural India
From:
Ganapati
R., Mumbai, India
Ref.: Dr H Joseph Kawuma, GLRA, Uganda LML March
27th, 2008
Dear Dr Kawuma,
Many thanks for your response to my LML message dated 19th
February ’2008.
1)
Prevalence rate
(PR) of active leprosy cases in Shahapur “Taluka” (sub unit of
district Thane) with a population of 235,000 having seven PHCs is
officially reported to be 3.8 per 10,000. The PR in Thane district
(population 9,175,946) is believed to be 1.1 per 10,000. The govt may have some figures
on the trend of PR. Our study looked only at the magnitude
of the disabilities
without any reference to the active disease needing MDT which is taken
care of by the govt.
2)
The investigation
did not aim at understanding the disease burden caused by disabilities
due to diseases other than leprosy. We
cannot believe that the services offered to such patients attending
PHCs were ideal. However,
we can confidently say that POD services for leprosy patients at the
PHCs were definitely highly inadequate. To this extent, human rights
issues involved are “leprosy- specific”.
With kind regards,
Dr R Ganapati
Director Emeritus
