Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Leprosy didn't deter him

R. Sujatha

He will feature in WHO's book on the disease

CHENNAI: A. Prakasam, president of the Tamil Nadu Leprosy Patients' Rehabilitation Guild, which has around 7,000 members, will feature in World Health Organisation's book on leprosy to be presented in the next United Nations General Assembly.

It is a remarkable comeback for a person, who by self-admission, had indulged in rice smuggling and opium peddling. He now works for rehabilitation, especially educating children of persons affected by leprosy. Born in Ramapakkam village in Villupuram taluk, Prakasam contacted leprosy from his father after his mother's death.

"It started as a patch on my right cheek and soon spread all over my body. I tested negative (under the highly infectious category), so the hospital in Chengalpattu sent us home after three months of treatment."

But the villagers sent them away to seek medical help. For the next 10 years, he was a boarder in various voluntary organisations in Tuticorin.

After returning home, the family sold off their portion for want of livelihood. They sold aluminium vessels but due to poverty they began to smuggle rice from Chennai and sold it in Mumbai.

Prakasam began dealing in opium and sold it in front of city colleges and schools. "It was easy because the police were afraid to touch us."

But all that changed when a senior officer explained the harm he caused to children. He turned to brewing arrack and became alcoholic. He tested positive for leprosy 30 years after contacting the disease.

After 10 years of treatment, a cured Prakasam was rehabilitated at the Balaramapuram Leprosy Colony near Villivakkam. He began working "to restore dignity to the lives of the residents of the leprosy villages." He has two daughters who are married.

His only son, who is also married, is an auto-rickshaw driver and lives with him. Now, at the age of 59, he has half a dozen grandchildren. Since he was not literate he did not seek medical help as a child. Today he works to educate the children of others like him.

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