Kathmandu Post

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Multi-drug treatment for leprosy patients

BHOJPUR, NOV 05 - Negative social attitude and ignorance among the general public about the easy availability of multi-drug treatment facilities has been keeping leprosy as one of the main problems of public health in the country.
Four years ago every nine out of 10,000 population in the country was a leprosy patient that has come down to just six at present. The present number of leprosy patients undergoing treatment is 15,056 and so far around 100,000 leprosy patients have been cured from the multi-drug treatment.
Likewise, in Bhojpur, 11 new leprosy patients have surfaced in four months of the current fiscal year adding to the nine previous patients.
In the previous fiscal year, 23 leprosy patients recovered after treatment, according to the Public Health Office.
Superstitions like describing leprosy as a curse, a sin of the previous birth or a heredity still exists in the society which is making treatment of the disease difficult, says Gyan Bahadur Basnet of the office. His Majesty’s Government has been running the multi-drug treatment facility free of cost across the country with the target of keeping leprosy out as a main health problem of the country.Posted on: 2003-11-04 09:23

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