Leprosy stages a comeback in mountainous districts

Leprosy, a disease which was said to be nearly eliminated across Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), has staged a powerful comeback as over 30,000 people have been reported infected with the disease during the last two years, said official sources of the health department on Friday.

According to the sources, mostly Northern districts including Dir, Swat, Kohistan and Upper Chitral were among the districts hit by leprosy.

The disease has been wiped out on international level and there were no signs of leprosy in Pakistan including big cities however now cases were being reported from some hilly areas of the province where people were losing their limbs to this disease.

The sources said there were areas where the disease was completely wiped out however it was resurfacing again causing corrosion of human body parts including lips, nose and fingers of hands and feet.

To counter the situation leprosy centers were established at different districts of the province, however due to the lack of specialist staff, no proper treatment or cure was being provided to the patients.

The officials of the health directorate however said patients were being registered at leprosy centers and treatment from start to end was being provided to them.

The number of leprosy cases were claimed to be on the decline in the K-P province in 2021.