BHUBANESWAR: Leprosy is on the rise in Orissa! The number of leprosy patients has risen in the state since 2006.The irony is that in 2006-2007, the sate government had declared Orissa (Odisha) leprosy free! Now, it is estimated that about 3 in 20,000 people here have the dreaded disease. State Leprosy Welfare Federation president Duryodhan Sahu sais that this is so because very few people are employed to take care of the existing ones.

In 2006-07, the prevalence rate of leprosy patients per 10,000 people was 0.65. It increased to 1.59 in 2013-14 which is alarming, according to WHO standards. The prevalence rate should be less than 1 per 10,000..

Sahu said the state government had declared that leprosy has been eliminated in Odisha in 2006-07, but the number of patients increased from 5,088 cases in 2006-07 to 10,645 in 2013-14, he added, quoting RTI information.

Sahu said 1,100 paramedical employees were taking care of the patients before 2006, but, after the state declared itself ‘leprosy free’ staff had been reduced to 404 staff in 314 blocks and 90 urban centres. Today the state has only 75 paramedics to serve these patients, he added.

After repeated demands, the then health minister had conducted a high-level meeting on January 7 in 2014 to discuss the issue. They had taken a decision of filling up of posts of paramedic staff, but nothing has materialized, he added.

Due to negligence and lackadaisical attitude of the state government and mismanagement of leprosy home and hospitals, the elimination of leprosy has become a mockery and is going to be a health hazard in the state, said Sahu.

He demanded appointment of paramedic s in the Disability Prevention Medical Rehabilitation (DPMR) centres across the state. “If we fail check the disease now, it will make primary patients physically disabled,” he added.

  health, Odisha, World Health Organisation (WHO)