Officials during the regional review meeting of National Leprosy Eradication Programme and Training on National Strategic Plan for Leprosy 2023-27 and Nikusth 2.0 at Hotel De Oriental Grande, Kohima on May 29. (Morung Photo)
Dimapur accounts for 90% with 80% from among migrant workers
Morung Express News
Kohima | May 29
Commissioner & Secretary (H&FW) Government of Nagaland, Y Kikheto Sema on Monday informed that currently Nagaland has 31 cases out of which 90% are from Dimapur with 80% from among the non-Naga migrant workers.
Speaking as the chief guest at the two-day regional review meeting of National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP) and Training on National Strategic Plan (NSP) for Leprosy 2023-27 and Nikusth 2.0 held at Hotel De Oriental Grande, Kohima on May 29, Sema recalled how Nagaland was the first state to achieve WHO target of ‘elimination status’ (1 case in 10, 000 population) in 1998.
With the aim to achieve ‘Leprosy Free India’ by 2027, Sema said the government alone cannot achieve and it needs the support and 4Cs - coordination, cooperation, confidence and contributions of all the stakeholders.
Principal Advisor (NCDC), MoHFW GOI, Dr Anil Kumar, who graced the occasion as the guest of honour remarked that Nagaland can be one of the first states in the country to achieve zero transmission of leprosy. With some districts in Nagaland with no new reported case of leprosy in the last many years, Dr Kumar said, “it is time to declare those districts from Nagaland as ‘leprosy free’.”
However, he shared his concern that most of the reported cases are from Dimapur from the migrative population. Towards this, Dr Kumar said Dimapur, being host to large migrative population suggested on the need to have a strong surveillance system, who should be examine on their arrival.
He also stated that continuous examination should be conducted regularly in order to protect the people of Nagaland from leprosy infection.
Although NE states have some specific problems such as hard to reach areas, difficulty in early detection of the disease, Dr Kumar indicated that there are some states in NE which can achieve zero transmission much earlier than the targeted year as compared to the rest of the states in the country.
Dr Sudarsan Mandal, DDG (Leprosy), Dte GHS, MoHFW, GoI informed that 974 cases have been diagnosed in the last financial year. Among this, he said some of the states have high percentage with Meghalaya at 83%, Manipur at 20%, Assam and Arunachal at 18% while the national average is at 2.3% among the new cases. He attributed this to the failure in early detection of the disease.
Highlighting in brief the purpose of the meeting, Dr Lily Gangmei, CMO (Leprosy), Dte GHS MoHFW, GoI said this programme is to share insights and activities being carried out by the central leprosy division, review the progress and challenges of the eight northeastern states and also to build capacity of SLO and DEOs on NSP and implementation of Nikusth 2.0 and define an action plan for strengthening of NSP.
Nikusth 2.0 as informed is an integrated portal for leprosy case management under NLEP, which will aid in efficient data recording, analysing and reporting of the data in the form of indicators and a real time dashboard at centre, state and district levels.
During the programme, National Framework for Integration of Mental Health Services for leprosy patients, video on Nikusth 2.0, leprosy Flipbook and poster on NLEP was released.
