Pakistan observed 58th World Leprosy Day on Sunday amidst its absolute control over the disease with 90 percent recovery rate among the 55,000 registered patients across the country. The facts were highlighting during the ceremony organised by Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MLC) on Saturday evening.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Social Sector Shahnaz Wazir Ali felicitated Dr Ruth Pfau and her team for commitment in achieving the leprosy elimination in the country. She appealed to the team to help government in its efforts to eradicate polio virus in next two years time.
Shahnaz on behalf of the government also assured to extend all support to MLC society in its efforts to eradicate polio and tuberculosis (TB) from the country, besides, blindness prevention.
Dr Ruth Pfau said achievement of gradual elimination of leprosy was because of the concerted efforts by a team of committed workers. She said leprosy elimination does not mean that disease has been eradicated from the country.
“Eradication is only possible once people stopped getting scared of the ailment and ensure timely diagnosis and treatment of the patients,” she observed.
Dr Pfau also made a passionate appeal to the people to do away with stigma attached to disease and tendency to ostracise the sufferer. “We need similarly control TB and prevent blindness in the country,” she stressed.
Dr Mutaher Zia, national medical coordinator for leprosy control programme said Karachi is focal point as it is also treating the patients from Balochistan and interior of Sindh province and even Afghan refugees and others parts of the country. He appealed to the doctors and especially the skin specialists to cooperate with MLC and provide necessary guidance to the patients visits the centre.
CEO MLC Shakeel Ahmed in his elaborate presentation said that leprosy has been fully controlled yet virus continues to persist. “There is an estimated number of 20,000 people who continue to carry the virus,” he pointed out.
He said it is because of there immunity that the virus fails to attack them yet these people were vulnerable must be identified.
He said that major challenge is protect them against the deformities that are possible through timely and proper medication.
The CEO MLC announced that MLC will support the government in its anti-polio campaign and that all MLC centres across the country would provide oral polio vaccination facilities belonging to the concerned community.
On the occasion, patients and staff members of MLC also staged a drama depicting the plight of the patients and the important role of medical community as well as the society in general toward their rehabilitation.
Later, the MLC members who completed their 25 years of services were also honoured with achievement awards, which included Nasim Pervaiz, Nasr Khan from Kohistan, Arshadi Khatoon, Boota Masih, Ashok, Kaliyan , Rama Lingam, Ashok Kumar, Rehmatullah from Peshawar, Joseph Hidayat, Fateh Mohammed.