Kathmandu, Jan. 28 : The 48th World Leprosy Day is being celebrated in Nepal also today with the organising of various programmes.

In a message on the occasion, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala reiterated the commitment of His Majesty’s Government to eradicate leprosy from Nepal by the end of 2003.

Calling upon all the citizens to help make the special anti-leprosy programmes to be organised in future successful, Prime Minister Koirala also thanked all the international non-government organisations and the World Health Organisation for the cooperation being provided to His Majesty’s Government and hoped for its continuity also.

Likewise, Health Minister Dr Rambaran Yadav said presently around four out of every 10,000 people in the country are leprosy patients and a target has been set to reduce the number to less than one in every 10,000 by the end of 2003.

The Health Minister has also expressed gratitude especially to Samakawa Memorial Health Foundation, Novartis Foundation, Leprosy Mission International, the Netherlands Leprosy Relief Association, German Leprosy Relief Association, I.N.F., Nepal Leprosy Trust and World Health Organisation for their assistance in anti-leprosy programmes and hoped for the same in future.

In a similar message, Minister of State for Health Tirtha Ram Dangol has said that it is our common responsibility to inform the village people about the availability of free treatment for leprosy in all the health centres of the country and bring out people hiding their disease for regular treatment.

Health secretary Padma Prasad Pokhrel has in his message disclosed that multi treatment has been made available free of cost in every health centre across the country in order to achieve the government’s target of bringing down the number of leprosy patients to less than one in every 10,000 people.

Meanwhile, His Majesty’s Government has set the target of eliminating leprosy as a public health problem by 2003.

A national campaign has been launched for the past two years to bring down the number of leprosy patients to less than 1 in every 10,000 people by that year.

Secretary at the Ministry of Health Padma Prasad Pokhrel says the introduction of multi drug therapy by the UN in 1981 was a remarkable breakthrough in the treatment of leprosy patients. Unlike the traditional therapy, which required a patient to remain on a regimen throughout his life, multi-drug therapy puts a patient on a treatment regimen for only six months and completely cures the disease without leaving the patient deformed, he added.

Prior to the introduction of multi-drug therapy the number of leprosy patients was 10 in every 10,000 people. But by the end of 1998 the number dropped to four in every 10,000. Following the introduction of this therapy 74,000 leprosy patients have been completely cured, according to director of the Leprosy Control Division Dr Jaya Prasad Baral.

As part of the national leprosy control campaign free treatment is being given to patients in all 75 districts. A door-to-door treatment campaign has also been launched through local sub-health posts in 22 districts.