M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, June 26: The door-to-door survey for leprosy is set to begin in Jharkhand from July 1. It is set to conclude on July 14. Meanwhile, the Palamu District Administration is ready for the survey.
Sources have claimed that Palamu now has a district leprosy officer. Dr Anil Kumar Srivastav, an ex civil surgeon Palamu has been chosen for the post here. People familiar with Dr Srivastav have claimed that he is a proactive person who is serious of his duties.
Speaking to lagatar24.com Dr Srivastav said, “There will be a total of 2,119 teams of surveyors consisting of one male and female health personnel. The team will be monitored by 324 supervisors. Around 2,084 Sahiyas have also been added to the drive.”
“However, the task is huge. As per reports, a total of 24, 17, 976 people in the district will be a part of the survey. The number of houses to be visited is 4,09,714 spread over 1,758 villages in Palamu wherein everyone apart from children below two years of age will be surveyed,” the doctor further added.
A mechanism has been developed so that no team can create loop holes in terms of collecting data.
A house surveyed by the team has to be marked for refusal, house is locked, house owners are visiting outside the region and will return within time, or the house owners have migrated with no hope return for the moment.
Dr Srivastav said, “We believe every one of us will dedicate ourselves to this campaign.” He further appealed the residents to extend cooperation to the visiting teams.
Meanwhile, sources sya, between April 2022 and May 2022, ie 61 days, around 76 new cases of leprosy have been confirmed in Palamu.
Dr Srivastav on the other hand, said, “Around 264 persons are already undergoing treatment for leprosy in Palamu with 32 having grade 2 disability. People do make recovery and get cured.”
He further said that there is a need to highlight that leprosy is treatable and that if treated well in time can be defeated. If caught in time, and with proper and adequate medication leprosy is curable, said the doctor.
He added that a Sahiya is to ensure that person afflicted with leprosy take medicine daily. The Sahiyas, on the other hand will be paid Rs 250 per month.
Notably, the surveying team will have no diagnostic responsibility. The team is to only discover or detect cases based on the complaints of the person like discolouring of skin, skin patch losing sensation, reduced sense of touch pins needles, loss of eyebrows and eye lashes among others.
The Sahiya will be prepared to make a referral slip for the person concerned for the start of diagnosis and treatment thereafter, which will be done by the doctor only.
A cured leper informed the correspondent upon loosing sensation in his legs, he had stopped sitting near the fire, for the fear of not being aware enough and burning himself.
Dr Srivastav also appealed that people show respect and understanding to persons afflicted with leprosy as it will help the afflicted get well faster.
