KOZHIKODE: The Government Leprosy Hospital here on Monday observed the Anti- Leprosy Day. But none was bothered to check the status of this decades-old state-run institution in a pathetic state all these years. Since the government included this and other leprosy hospitals on the Above Poverty Line list, it was not getting subsidised rice for more than a month. The inmates were being fed on the rice the hospital superintendent borrowed from a cooperative society.
“The hospital building is more than 100 years old, and it never underwent renovation or maintenance till an action committee was formed a few months back with donations from the public,” said Azad N., the action committee secretary. Hospital superintendent Pratibha pointed out that the government was aiming at eliminating leprosy as a public health problem by 2020 and it launched an awareness campaign against myths and stigma associated with it. But no action came so far to improve the condition of the patients.
"We used to conduct leprosy detection tests in schools and found three students infected, but we could not do a follow-up or hold more camps for lack of funds,” she said. Leprosy affects the nerves, leaving patients crippled rest of life. So they rarely go out remain in the hospital due to the stigma. The hospital has 120 such inmates, and a majority of them were admitted here during the 1970s. Even though the government sanctioned funds in 2009, it stopped there.
