Odisha Govt Declares Leprosy as ‘Reportable Disease’

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government has declared Leprosy as a ‘Reportable Disease’ in the State.
A notification has been issued by the State Health & Family Welfare Department in this regard.
Leprosy is an Infectious disease and a major public health concern in the State and leads to physical deformity and morbidity if the patient is not treated early and is also associated with stigma and discrimination. It is a curable disease with full course of Multi Drug Therapy (MDT). Early diagnosis and complete treatment of leprosy is the corner stone of Leprosy Prevention and Control strategy, the Health Department said.

The State intends to bring down Leprosy infection and case load to elimination level in a time bound manner and requires health personnel and field functionaries like Doctors, Pathologists / Microbiologists to report cases identified by them for due treatment follow up and Leprosy Post Exposure Prophylaxis (LPEP).

Leprosy registry is not being maintained properly at private health facilities and some of the Leprosy cases are remaining unreported.

The State Government has found it imperative that all the diagnosed Leprosy cases should be reported to the appropriate authority for early diagnosis and complete treatment of the disease. Therefore, Government hereby declare that “Leprosy” is a “Reportable Disease” in the “State of Odisha” and accordingly, all persons dealing with diagnosis ,treatment and follow up in Hospitals (Private or Government), Private practice, Institutions imparting Medical Education and providing diagnostic services, and any other healthcare relating to Leprosy shall mandatorily report all diagnosed cases of Leprosy to the respective CDM&PHO / ADPHO (Leprosy) of the concerned districts within a period of two weeks, it added.