The number of suspected cases of leprosy is rising in Palamu with every passing day of the 14 day long leprosy case detection campaign launched by the Jharkhand government in its 14 districts, including Palamu.
67 cases of suspected leprosy were detected on the very first day of this 14 day long campaign beginning July 1. The very next day July 2, the second day of this campaign 166 cases of suspected leprosy were detected taking the total to 233 cases of suspected leprosy in just 2 days only.
Children are not spared even and it is the children who are to be taken care of most said sources. There is a lurking fear of children having affliction of leprosy abstaining from their schools said sources.
District leprosy officer Dr Anil Kumar Srivastav said the trend in these two days of 14 day long campaign is upward. However Srivastav said we have to wait for July 14 when this campaign for detection of suspected cases of leprosy will conclude.
Srivastav said it is only then we can have an opinion about the prevalence of this disease in Palamu.
Sources said the cases of multibacillary leprosy outnumber the cases of pauci bacillary leprosy in Palamu which means threat of deformities of limbs in this disease is high.
Sources said this disease just got neglected too badly before the global Coronavirus in the year 2020 and 2021. The entire focus of medical treatment was limited to the Coronavirus.
Again this 2022 campaign for detection of leprosy cases has been a well planned and well meaning exercise with a very effective monitoring from the state health department said sources. District leprosy officer Dr Anil Kumar Srivastav said we have pressed in more than 1,600 teams every day for this detection of cases of suspected leprosy in Palamu.\