Minister announces quota for leprosy patients

Two leprosy patients to be awarded jobs per month.

KARACHI: A quota of two leprosy patients per month will be implemented and they will be awarded jobs in the health department or wherever their qualifications and skill-set are suited, announced Sindh Health Minister on Monday.

Leprosy remains a disease surrounded by myths and misconceptions because of which patients affected are ostracised and forced to live in seclusion with their disability. The desperate need for awareness and understanding was brought to focus on the 55th World Leprosy Day observed on Monday at the CDGK Leprosy Hospital.

Medical Superintendent (MS) of the hospital Dr Muhammad Ali Abbasi said the infectious disease is curable, however, it must be detected in its early stages and treated immediately. “Delay in diagnosing causes the disease to spread out of control. It manifests as deformities in the patient and in some cases as handicaps,” he said. More than 500 leprosy patients register at the 116-year-old leprosy hospital in Manghopir every year and 50 per cent of these patients are from Karachi.

At the same event, the Institute for Infectious Diseases was inaugurated at the hospital premises. Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed was the guest of honour. According to the MS, the institute has started using its department for tuberculosis (TB), it offers courses for food and drug inspectors, can diagnose but not treat hepatitis and conduct “full-scale eye surgeries”.

Making full use of the first minister visit to the hospital, Dr Abbasi put forth a list of concerns that required the health department’s attention. The list included a job quota for leprosy patients, increase in the “meagre” salaries — Rs3,000 to Rs4,000 — of some staff (cured leprosy patients working at the hospital) and the construction of a boundary wall around the 35-acre land belonging to the hospital to prevent encroachments.

Other than the job quota, Ahmed also announced an increase of Rs1,000 (ie from Rs3,000 to Rs4,000 and from Rs4,000 to Rs5,000) each in the salaries of employees. He requested the District Coordination Officer Muhammed Hussain Syed to prepare an estimate on the budget required for the construction of the wall, after which the matter could be looked into.

Living with leprosy

“Physical deformities are just one aspect of the disease,” Ahmed said, adding, “the darker and more challenging side is society ostracising those affected, taking their right to a normal life.” A doctor himself, Ahmed said, despite leprosy being a “communicable disease”, one that can spread through touching, it does so only over a long period of time and is not an instantaneous exchange as many believe. Saying the patients were the truly courageous ones to fight against all odds for a cure, he narrated his conversations with some of the patients when he had visited in the ward earlier. “Some patients have been here for years and years with no place to go while others have been rejected by their families and therefore continue to live here secluded from society.” The taboo is over a century old, Ahmed said, and while there has been some awareness about the myths of the disease, “a great deal more remains to be done.” Encouraging people to get tested if they begin to notice any signs or suffer symptoms of leprosy, Ahmed said early treatment could avoid complications and the drastic side-effects the disease causes.

Allocation of resources

Ahmed urged society to show compassion to leprosy patients and announced that the remaining Rs20 million (of the total Rs30 million) for the development of the hospital would be released by June this year.

Devolution

Speaking to journalists after the event, the minister said the exact process of the devolution of the health ministry was still unclear. However, since all provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan would be buying their medicines independently, a body is being formed including all secretaries to chart a “uniform policy” to regularise prices.

Signs of leprosy

• Any red or white patch(es) on the skin for more than 6 weeks


• The patch(es) do not itch, do not improve with treatment and you lose sensation in those areas


• Thick red-coloured skin (diffuse infiltration) permanently on the face


• Old ulcers on anaesthetic hands and feet which do not heal easily

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2011.