The Hindu : Karnataka News : 30 years of service to leprosy patients

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Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

30 years of service to leprosy patients

Nagesh Prabhu

Anti-leprosy day is on January 30; the Sumanahalli centre is run by dedicated people

— PHOTO: BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

CONFIDENT NOW: A leprosy-cured person at the Sumanahalli Leprosy Rehabilitation Centre in Bangalore.

BANGALORE: “Please educate and save us from leprosy.” This fervent plea for help from leprosy-afflicted people has become the inspiration and guiding spirit behind the Sumanahalli Leprosy Rehabilitation Centre in Bangalore.

The Sumanahalli centre, located on a 50-acre plot granted by the Government near Magadi Road in Kamakshipalya, has been carrying on its mission of providing treatment to and rehabilitation of people affected by leprosy for the last 30 years.

Established in 1977 at the request of the former Chief Minister, late Devaraj Urs, the centre is run by a band of dedicated priests and nuns belonging to the Claretian community. It has provided treatment and rehabilitation to 5,220 disease infected persons from different parts of the country.

The sprawling campus provides live-in facility for 220 patients of both sexes with the committed workforce of carers and assistants working at the centre on 24 x 7 basis.

The centre has planned a series of programmes on Wednesday to mark the anti-leprosy day celebrations, including a rally by schoolchildren. The State Health Department is also organising a function on the campus with the participation of senior government officials.

With the Government making an ambitious declaration to make the State free of leprosy by the end of 2008, the centre has been receiving all-out support from the Government and other institutions besides several voluntary agencies.

“We have our moments of joy and sorrow,” says Fr. George Kannanthanam, the dynamic and soft-spoken director of the centre. “We are proud of what we have been able to achieve. But our mission is still incomplete as fresh cases are still being reported and new admissions are being made,” he said pointing out that the disease prevalence rate has come down sharply from 50 per 10,000 people in 1986 to 0.61 per 10,000 in 2007 in the State.

As the only centre of its kind in Bangalore, equipped with four clinics and a 100-bed rehabilitation facility, it has been attracting patients from across the country. It has won 11 national and seven State-level awards.

It has now expanded its service to other disadvantaged sections of people such as those afflicted with HIV/AIDS, disabilities, juvenile delinquents, street children and orphans.

The centre has been providing training to leprosy as well as HIV/AIDS patients in leather craft, shoe-making, printing, tailoring, knitting, mushroom cultivation and paper cover making, its executive director Fr. Joseph Thoompanal said.

Nearly 800 men and women who completed training have obtained jobs in different industries. On the campus alone, 285 trained people have been working in a variety of sheds. “Our products are now being exported to several countries such as England, Italy and Sweden,” Fr. Thoompanal said.

Gratefully appreciating the service provided at the centre, K.P. Ramanna, a leprosy-cured person, said: “I am alive because of the centre. It gave me treatment, a house and a job in the leather unit. Now, I am able to earn a living and live with dignity. It has built 804 houses with the help of the Government and donors for the benefit of the needy.”

The centre lost about 15 acres of land when the ring road project connecting Tumkur Road with Mysore Road was taken up. With the completion of the ring road and other road works passing through the centre, the inmates feel frightened and threatened.

“Our life has become miserable. We cannot walk freely inside the campus now,” lamented a few patients, wondering whether they will be uprooted and shifted to another place.

With the State Revenue and Social Welfare departments proposing to acquire the land given to the centre, the centre’s administration submitted a memorandum to Governor Rameshwar Thakur last month seeking extension of the lease period.

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