New software to track leprosy patients

On the eve of Anti Leprosy Day on Friday,health officials have pointed out that there is a false sense of security among the people that leprosy had been eliminated.

On the eve of Anti Leprosy Day on Friday,health officials have pointed out that there is a false sense of security among the people that leprosy had been eliminated. With a total of 497 patients under treatment till September this year,the health department has now launched a new software to track each and every leprosy patient.

Says Dr Dhananjay Katkar,assistant director of health,leprosy,the software has been specially designed to track each leprosy patient and is linked to the 96 primary health centres,sub centres and other hospitals. So,even if a patient may report for another ailment and the doctor observes a patch on his/her back then he/she is immediately reported on the case tracking software system. This way we not only find new cases,but also keep track of the old patients who are either undergoing treatment for six or 12 months. This will ensure that we do not miss any patient who does not report for follow up treatment,says Katkar. The user-friendly software would maintain a database of the patients records at sub centers,primary health centers and even peripheral places.

Out of 497 patients,38 are children and a majority are being newly detected in the rural places of the district. Elimination of leprosy is achieved when the prevalence rate is less than one per 10,000 population. The country had achieved the elimination target in September 2005.

However,since then,there has been a false sense of security about the lack of new cases. We need to change this mindset,says Katkar whose team now has renewed their efforts with the help of this software to track new patients. At present,the prevalence rate in Pune is 45 per 10,000 population. Only less than 20 per cent of leprosy patients are of the infectious type and with modern multi drug therapy these patients rapidly become non infectious. There is no threat of disease transmission if the patient is taking treatment at home.

While leprosy deformity is mostly seen in the old treated cases with no active disease,the state has now started a programme for reconstructive surgeries. Some 27 surgeries were performed last year and eight this year,says Katkar. As part of the disability prevention and medical rehabilitation,patients are given physiotherapy,wax bath and muscle stimulation.

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