KARACHI, Aug 9: Speakers at a ceremony on Monday paid glowing tributes to Dr Ruth Pfau of the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre for her selfless services for leprosy patients in Pakistan.

These tributes were paid at a simple ceremony during which her biography, entitled "Serving the unserved: A tribute to a living legend", was launched. The speakers pointed out that Dr Pfau visited Pakistan en route to India in 1960, but, she was so seized by the condition obtaining in the Lepers' Colony in Karachi that she decided to stay.

In the next more than four decades, she turned a small clinic into a fully fledged hospital, dedicated to the treatment of lepers. The ceremony started with recitations both from the Holy Quran and the Bible.

In her rather humorous speech, Dr Pfau thanked the organizers and related some incidents from her eventful life and career. She wondered loudly if she could have done more for the sick.

Dr Mutaher Zia, author of the book, said that Dr Pfau was the voice of reason in a world where such an attribute was rare. "In an insane world, the presence of Dr Pfau is nothing but a blessing," he remarked.

Grafin von Roedern, the Consul-General of Germany, pointed out that leprosy had been controlled to a great extent in the country with the efforts of Dr Pfau and her team at the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre. The centre by expanding its area of activities was involved in tuberculosis and preventable blindness as well, she added.

Dr Ashfaq Ali Khan and the book publisher, Ajmal Kamal, also spoke on the occasion. A 15-minute documentary was also screened, which described the work undertaken at the MALC.

Among other guests, Klaus-Werner Jonas, a member of the German legislature, was also present at the ceremony. Later, the book was formally unveiled and a copy was presented to Dr Ruth Pfau.

At the ceremony, it was stated that the spread of leprosy in Pakistan had been controlled as per criteria of the World Health Organization, adds PPI. It was disclosed at the ceremony that out of 49,811 registered cases of leprosy in the country, 48,765 patients (i.e. 98 per cent) had been treated and cured of the infection till June 2004.

In the last 44 years, a total of 49,811 leprosy cases were registered with 65 per cent cases in Sindh and 15 per cent in the NWFP. It was pointed out that Karachi had contributed 27,791 leprosy cases (56 per cent) in the total figure.

One obvious reason was the city's ever increasing population with migrants coming in from different cities as well as neighbouring countries like Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

According to the statistics presented on the occasion, 86 per cent of the cases were of adults with a preponderance of male patients (i.e. 63 per cent). As per the WHO criteria for leprosy control, the number of existing cases had gone down to less than one in 10,000 population in 1996. However, it was pointed out that an average of 800 cases was still being detected every year due to the long incubation period of the disease.