CHENNAI: New leprosy cases in Tamil Nadu have fallen by 58.3 per cent from 4,252 in 2019-2020 to 1,769 in 2020-2021. Chennai has recorded a whopping 76.5 per cent reduction in new cases for the same period, revealed data from the State and National Leprosy Eradication Programme. In Chennai, 315 cases were detected in 2019-2020 while only 74 cases were detected in 2020-2021.
Officials attributed the precipitous fall to diversion of field staff during the first and second COVID waves as well as reluctance of people to come forward for screening amid the pandemic. In 2021-2022 till January, 1,869 cases were reported in Tamil Nadu and 58 in Chennai, with some areas becoming leprosy free.
However, the real scenario can be assessed only after consolidating the complete data for the current financial year (April to March), a senior health department official said. Meanwhile, to make up for the pandemic impact, the health department has now restarted awareness efforts.
Officials to target students, construction sites & slums
The officials will be screening all school and college students in the coming months and then it will target construction sites, slums, markets and factories, Dr V Dharmalingam, district deputy director of medical services (leprosy) said.
According to officials, when the first and second waves were at a peak, field staff, including health inspectors, were diverted to government medical college hospitals to supervise sanitary and other works. Out-patient units were closed, so opportunities for people to come forward were also fewer.
"Though fieldwork was completely affected during peak-COVID times, gradually the work has started again and things are on back on track. In a few places, we have fewer cases. That data will be cross verified and we will look for leprosy-free areas also," the senior official told The New Indian Express.
According to Dr Dharmalingam, even dermatologists were diverted for COVID duty in Chennai during the first and second waves. "But only during the peaks were works affected. If there was a continued hindrance, then there would have been difficulty in the early detection of cases. Cases would present at later stages, sometimes with deformity, which is a matter of concern as the goal of National Leprosy Eradication Programme is preventing deformity through early detection," he said.
But even after field staff returned to leprosy duty, the public has been reluctant to come forward for screening due to COVID, he said. "As schools were closed, screening there was also affected," said Dr Dharmalingam.
When a case is detected at schools, contact tracing will be done in the house and locality of the student. These efforts were completely disrupted.
"We are planning to screen all the school students in Chennai in a month. Then, colleges will be covered. We are runnig a case detection campaign. By March, we will conduct a mop-up round of screening and also target construction sites, slums, markets and factories," he said, adding self-help groups will be engaged in raising awareness.
Meanwhile, a nursing officer in a leprosy hospital said people with leprosy take years to develop deformities so the two-year pandemic impact may not be too bad.