“Since 1955 till 2004, our country had a vertical leprosy
program, which has been merged with the GHC system”
One of the debates that my GPP 105 Literature Review tried
to address was the role of Leprosy NGOs, along with the role of the government
clinics. Many of the articles I read
stated that integrating Leprosy treatment into Public health centers was
effective, and there was no need for NGOs to treat Leprosy patients. As a result, I concluded that the role of the
public health centers was to detect and treat Leprosy, while the NGO’s role was
to diagnose and treat complicated cases of Leprosy and have disability
prevention programs.
However, everything I have witnessed so far has shown me
otherwise. My experience in the Bombay
Leprosy Project has shown me that Leprosy is an extremely complicated disease,
and is very difficult to diagnose. There
were several cases that I have witnessed in which the patient went to see a general
practitioner and the general practitioner was unable to correctly diagnose the
patient. For one case, the patient was
undiagnosed for several years, resulting in him infecting many of the people
close with him. Instead of referring him
to BLP or a dermatologist, the general practitioner tried to treat the patient
by giving him injections. As a result of
the patient being left untreated, not only was his bacteriological index
extremely high, but his sister displayed hypopigmented patches, one of the
signs of Leprosy.
This is one of many cases in which the patient was left
untreated because of misdiagnosis.
Another patient visited not only a general practitioner, but many other
physicians before he was lucky enough to have an orthopedic test him for Leprosy
to rule it out. There is no proper way
as to how Leprosy should be treated. By
integrating Leprosy into the General Health System, there has been less of a
stigma towards the disease. However,
general practitioners need to be aware of the signs of Leprosy and when they
should send the patient to a Leprosy NGO.
In order to aid in Leprosy eradication efforts, Leprosy must be caught
early in order to reduce the chance of disability and infection to others. People diagnosed with Leprosy should be sent
to Leprosy NGOs in order to be treated, manage reactions, and start disability
prevention programs.
Well said well said. I am inspired.
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