The Health Department is dragging its feet on a project to detect hidden and untreated leprosy cases in the State.
The project titled ‘Active Case Detection and Regular Surveillance’ is a “flagship activity” of the National Leprosy Eradication programme that aimed zero-leprosy cases by 2020, according to sources.
The government had sanctioned ₹11.85 crore for the project for 2020-21 and active surveillance of leprosy cases was to be taken up in all districts.
As per the guidelines of the Central Leprosy Division, the estimated budget for conducting district-level leprosy detection campaign was around ₹7.83 crore. However, though administrative sanction for the funds was given on November 1, the project is yet to be taken up in full swing.
Time frame
According to sources, at least six months would be required to complete the project, including the survey, depending on the number of cases being reported from a place. This six-month time frame can be extended up to four times.
Kerala, however, has reportedly decided to wind up the project in three months from November. Officials claimed that no steps had been taken to involve the civil society in the project as yet. “Local body election is one of the reasons for the delay. By the time the election process will be over, it will be December-end. It will be difficult to do an honest job if the deadline is in February,” an official said.
New campaign
This replaces the ‘Aswamedham’ campaign, which was launched in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Palakkad, Ernakulam, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, and Kasaragod districts in 2018 and later extended to other districts.
The campaign was rolled out against the backdrop of a spurt in leprosy in the previous year. It was a success with many hidden cases emerging through a survey. But this year, no ground-level preparations had been done so far, the official added.
