M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, July 3: The Leprosy Case Detection Campaign (LCDC) in Palamu has provided a worrisome figure of suspected cases of leprosy. Around 1,637 teams detected a total of 166 suspected cases of leprosy on the second day of the door-to-door survey of the leprosy case detection campaign on July 2. Around 67 suspected cases of leprosy were found on July 1.
Notably, a 14-day-long campaign for the detection of leprosy was launched on July 1 in Jharkhand’s 14 districts including Palamu. Within just two days, Palamu has now 233 suspected cases of leprosy.
Sources have said that there were cases of leprosy in Palamu earlier, however, under a systematic design, the numbers were suppressed for around two decades as more cases would have meant more trouble for those who were entrusted to deal with the said cases due to the vested interest in the local health office.
A doctor has claimed that the 233 cases suspected of leprosy do not support claims of an outbreak or resurgence of leprosy. The doctor said the cases were unreported to the government.
Meanwhile, the door-to-door survey has taken the lid off the kettle as suspected cases of leprosy are being noticed throughout the poverty-stricken Palamu.
Two factors are accounted for the effective door-to-door survey. First is the control and watch of the state health department which has mandated its district leprosy officer in each of the 14 districts to send the daily reports of the findings of the survey on the same day, without fail.
Sources have said that the daily report is prepared and sent to the state health department late at night every day. It has minimized the chances of any issues with the figures.
The second factor that matters most in Palamu is the new district leprosy officer Dr. Anil Kumar Srivastav. Sources have said the district leprosy officer works and wants none to sit idle.
A comparison here will suffice to prove that the past officials never did the work required for the elimination of leprosy in any serious manner in Palamu. Sources said it was all perfunctory and concealing.
Here is the comparison based on the official data that lagatar24.com has accessed.
The official note reads that 264 leprosy patients are already undergoing treatment in Palamu since a long time. It includes 206 cases of multibacillary, 58 cases of pauci bacillary and 18 cases of leprosy among the children. All these figures are that for the last few years with the backlog.
Now in just two days, since the LCDC began, a hopping number of 233 suspected cases of leprosy in Palamu have been found. This disease does not appear overnight. There were patients, but were never discovered by the health officials said sources.
Again on the day of launch of the survey, at least four community health centers had reported zero detection of cases of suspected leprosy.
The DLO Dr. Anil Kumar Srivastav said he took serious note of it and asked the teams not to indulge in such acts.
Sources said it paid a dividend on the very next day as on day 2 the number of zero detection of suspected leprosy cases in four community health centers came down to only 1 community health center.
The Sahiyas have been detecting the cases by taking notes of the people who have symptoms of leprosy. Sources said in 99 percent of cases suspected of leprosy, the diagnosis of leprosy is usually confirmed.
The Sahiya’s notes are then verified and diagnosed by the doctor and on its confirmation medication begins. Notably, the government provides all kinds of medication for free.
DLO Dr. Anil Kumar Srivastav said the Sahiya who so first detected the suspected case has to play another role in getting the suspicion of leprosy a confirmed case of leprosy by the doctor.
The Sahiya is to ensure the afflicted man takes his medicine regularly and every day. This Sahiya has to ensure this ensuring for six months upon which, a Sahiya gets 250 rupees as wages for guarding the afflicted person and making sure the patient takes medicines as prescribed.
