KARACHI, Feb 7: A new building to house the Institute of Infectious Diseases was inaugurated on the premises of the CDGK Leprosy Hospital at Manghopir on Monday.

A programme marking the World Leprosy Day, which fell on Jan 30, was also held at the hospital.

Speaking at the ceremony, Sindh health minister Dr Sagheer Ahmad said his department would make efforts to transform the leprosy hospital into a fully-fledged infectious diseases institute, besides taking measures for the rehabilitation of people recovering from leprosy.

Medical superintendent of the leprosy hospital Dr Muhammad Ali Abbasi said that the hospital was established in 1896 by a group of philanthropists led by Dr B. L. Roy and was taken over by the now defunct Karachi Metropolitan Corporation in 1960.

Patients from Iran, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan, have been living in the hospital, which not only served as a treatment centre but also as a shelter and rehabilitation place for them. Many patients said that they had been staying at the hospital, spread over 35 acres, for 20 to 40 years. They also did not know about their relatives in the city as they never turned up to see them.

A nursing staff senior said the centre had been giving care to the old residents only as there had been no influx of new patients during the last few years.

According to the MS, it was in 2009 that then city nazim Mustafa Kamal felt the need to improve the hospital to the status of an infectious diseases institute and laid the foundation of a multistorey building on the premises of the hospital.

A consultant physician at the institute said that in view of the impact of infectious diseases on national health, it was imperative that the city has a centre for control and treatment of infectious diseases.

The health minister said that following a request of the CDGK, the provincial health department had included the institute's project in its annual development programme and the Sindh government had allocated Rs30 million in its budget for 2010-11 for the establishment of the institute.

He said it could arrange special grants from the chief minister for the construction of a boundary wall around the leprosy hospital to keep encroachers away from it.

Jobs for leprosy survivors

The health minister said his department would provide jobs to two of the hospital patients every month on the recommendation of the medical superintendent of the hospital.

Stressing the need for a change in the overall attitude of society towards leprosy patients and their acceptability and remobilisation in society, the minister said arrangements could also be made for vocational training of the patients having recovered from the disease.

MS Dr Abbasi said about 55,000 leprosy patients had been registered across the country, while 500 new cases were still registered every year, 50 per cent of which belonged to Karachi.

He said leprosy, caused by a germ (mycocterium laprae), was a moderately infectious disease and mainly affected the face, hands, feet and parts of the human body usually left uncovered.

The MS said the leprosy hospital had the services like molecular biology laboratory, surgical facilities of eye patients and dental facilities and tuberculosis clinic.

He said the hospital was planning to treat people with other diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis and the acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

On a request of the MS, DCO Mohammad Hussain Syed said he was ready to move a summary to seek council approval for the establishment of an infectious diseases institute.