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
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