KARACHI, Aug 16: The Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MALC) is now planning to integrate leprosy care with the general health care system so that patients could get the facility of diagnosis and treatment close to their homes.
This was stated by Honorary Adviser, federal ministry of health and a former MALC chief, Dr Ruth Pfau, who along with the Federal Adviser on Leprosy and MALC chief Dr Capt Ashfaq Ali Khan, was speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club here on Wednesday in connection with the 50th anniversary of the centre.
They said that the MALC would soon start giving trainings to the doctors and other paramedical staff to enable them identify any leprosy patient and provide treatment to them promptly and perfectly. With the early diagnosis, the disease could be controlled early, they added.
They also urged the family and the society to accept the cured leprosy patient so that such a person could be fully rehabilitated to lead a normal life.
They said that the leprosy control work was started by a young Mexican, Nun Sr Berenice Vargas, and her fellow nuns from the beggars’ colony behind McLeod Road on Aug 16, 1956. Sr Vargas died last year at the age of 76.Dr Pfau joined the MALC in 1960 and with the help and dedication of the MALC staff working at over 150 centres, leprosy was brought under control in 1996. As the leprosy prevalence in the country is less than one active case in a population of 10,000, the disease has ceased to be a public health problem.
They said that though the disease had been controlled in 1996, it had a long and variable incubation period ranging from two years to 40 years. Therefore, there was a need for vigilance against it. However, as the main goal had been achieved, the MALC has also taken on other health problems like the TB and blindness control in the leprosy affected areas.
They said that they were carrying out community awareness programmes in these areas so that the diseases were identified at early stage to contain morbidity or mortality.
They said that in the MALC’s expanded leprosy control programme, 90 per cent of all registered leprosy patients would be comprehensively rehabilitated, the same percentage of TB patients would be cured, and the same number of persons in a danger of turning blind would be plotted on care cards.
Giving some data, they said that there were over 52,450 registered leprosy patients in the country and last year, only 551 new cases were detected. Some 8,155 patients were being monitored for sight threatening conditions and about 5,817 (72 per cent) had been successfully treated. Over 3,500 cataract surgeries, with a success rate of over 87 per cent, had been performed. More than 94,300 TB patients had been registered and the cure completion rate among them had remained above 90 per cent.
They said that about 65 per cent of the MALC annual budget of Rs120 million came from overseas donors while the rest was generated from local philanthropists and local corporate sector. They said that as the leprosy had been controlled in the country, the TB and eye diseases would also be brought under control soon with the efforts being made by the dedicated MALC staff.
