Activists and organisations working for the welfare of the people afflicted with leprosy hailed the Supreme Court judgment on Friday, calling it "momentous" and one which has given due recognition to the rights and challenges faced by the sector."
They regretted that it was indeed a shame that India still has large numbers of new cases and accounts for the highest global burden of the crippling disease, despite availability of treatment and cure since 1980.
Vinita Shanker, Director of the Sasakawa India leprosy Foundation, welcomed the much-awaited order saying that the judgment is along the lines of the principles and guidelines of the UN Human Rights Council to which India is a signatory.
"It is a matter of pride that the highest authority of the country has focused on an area begging for attention over the last so many decades. The challenge now is to ensure that a time-bound program along these directives is initiated by the different concerned ministries and departments," she said.
Shanker stressed on the need for a mass awareness campaigns to spread awareness about leprosy. Also, "community based rehabilitation and prevention of discrimination in schools are necessary to not only take care of those who have been affected and ostracized but also of their children who suffer even when they don't have the disease( as is often the case)," she added.
The problem lies in both the good medical care reaching those affected as was as in the social stigma that is still attached to leprosy. Its directive for ensure availability of drugs in PHC, in providing reconstructive surgery and in not isolating those affected by sending them to sanatoria, is right on the dot, according to the activist.
"Highlighting the need for generating a greater awareness on the issue of leprosy, its curability and free treatment to addressing the issue of stigma and discrimination the Court has given a host of directions to both the Central and State Governments," said Dr Mary Verghese, Executive Director of The Leprosy Mission Trust India, an NGO working in the field of leprosy since over 144 years.
Suresh Dhondge, a leprosy afflicted person and programme manager in TLMTI, said that the judgement would help the community live with dignity while Dr V V Pai, director at Bombay Leprosy Project, said: "hope now the Government stress on active case finding to prevent late diagnosis or deformity."