NEW DELHI: During the two waves of the pandemic, when non-Covid healthcare facilities were badly affected, leprosy patients were the worst sufferers.According to a report prepared by The Leprosy Mission Trust India, while some needed to visit health facilities to continue multidrug therapy (MDT) and get their dosage of the steroids adjusted, others needed ulcer dressing.
Based on the reports from all the states and UTs 2020-21, National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP) said that 65,147 new cases of leprosy were detected taking annual new cases detection to 4.56 per 100,000 population, as against 1,14,451 cases in 2019-20.
“Number of patients dwindled in our hospitals as vehicles went off the road. The anxiety of our patients became palpable. We started receiving desperate calls for food, medicines, and other essential commodities. Covid-19 had clearly disrupted whatever limited access they had to resources and support systems,” the report said.
Kewali Devi, a 73-year-old leprosy patient, developed an ulcer on her right leg. Due to the lockdown, she could not travel beyond her village in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh. Hence, she consulted a local practitioner, who covered the ulcer with some crepe bandage, which worsened it further. She had to wait for months before the lockdown was eased and she could reach The Leprosy Mission Hospital Naini
on another doctor’s recommendation.
As per the report, after the outbreak of Covid-19 and ensuing WHO recommendations on social distancing and lockdown, active case finding activities of leprosy were suspended in most states since April 2020.
“In four states—Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh—detection of new cases fell by 62.5% between April and September 2020, compared to the corresponding period in previous years. In 2019, the four states accounted for 35% of the total new cases reported in the country. These four states reported 22,000 new cases during April-September 2019, but only 8,270 for the same period in 2020,” the report added.