The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will be undertaking a survey from September 25 to October 9 to identify new leprosy patients as part of the National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP).
Around 3.17 new leprosy patients are detected for every 1 lakh people in the city every year. This year, between April and September, 195 new leprosy patients were identified in the city.
The Central government’s NLEP consists of a Leprosy Case Detection Campaign, which identifies leprosy patients through door-to-door surveys. Hundreds of volunteers and Accredited Social Health Activists are involved in carrying out the surveys.
“The objective is to find leprosy patients who have gone undetected. We want to bring them under treatment as soon as possible as time is crucial and we want to arrest transmission of disease,” said Dr. Padmaja Keskar, executive health officer of the BMC, in a press conference on Wednesday.
The survey will cover around 47 lakh people living in slums, chawls and labour families. Around 3,500 surveyors have been trained to carry out the survey. The teams will also consist of leprosy patients who are part of the Association of Persons Affected with Leprosy, a partner in the survey.
The teams will cover 25 houses every day. The BMC will be creating publicity about the survey through posters, pamphlets, radio and TV advertisements.
The BMC officers also gave information on the government’s programme to treat and rehabilitate leprosy patients detected through the survey. They will be given financial aid and offered rehabilitation, physiotherapy and reconstructive surgery. Surgeries will be conducted for free and patients will be given an allowance.
Mumbai has 11 leprosy reporting units, including four supervisory urban leprosy units, six non-governmental organisations and one hospital (Acworth). These reporting units cover 208 health posts in the city.