(a) whether leprosy, plague and T.B. have been controlled in the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether any realistic assessment of the implementation of various control projects has been made;
(d) if so, the details thereof;
(e) the steps taken to eradicate these diseases and rehabilitate the leprosy patients; and
(f) the details of the cases detected under the Modified Leprosy Elimination campaign, State-wise?
MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (DR. C.P. THAKUR)
(a) to (f): A statement is laid on the Table of the Lok
Sabha.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 252 FOR 14.3.2001
The number of leprosy cases in India has come down from
4 million in 1981 to 0.4 million in December, 2000 and the
prevalence rate has dropped from 57 per 10,000 population in
1981 to 4.03 per 10,000 population in December, 2000. The
deformity rate among new cases has also come down from over
7% in 1993-94 to current 2.58%. Ten States of Nagaland,
Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura,
Sikkim, Mizoram, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan have
achieved elimination levels. Five States of Assam, Gujarat,
Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Union Territory of
Lakshadweep are very close to achieving this. The disease,
at present, is mainly endemic in the 7 states of Bihar,
Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya
Pradesh and Chattisgarh.
An outbreak of human Plague affected Beed (Maharashtra)
and Surat (Gujarat) during 1994. The 1994 outbreak was
controlled immediately and since then no human plague cases
have been reported in the country.
The number of TB cases in the country over the last
several years has been more or less static. The new cases
are approximately 2 million every year. To control TB,
Government of India had launched National TB Control
Programme (NTCP) in 1962 with the objective of detecting as
many cases as possible and effectively treat them so as to
render infectious cases non infectious. After a review of
the programme in 1992, a revised strategy,
Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) was launched
in 1993 with an aim to cure 85% of new sputum smear (+ve)
cases and to detect at least 70% of such cases. RNTCP has
so far been implemented successfully with achievement of
over 80% cure rate. Coverage under RNTCP has expanded
rapidly in the last two years and is expected to reach 500
million by 2002.
An independent evaluation of the National Leprosy
Elimination Programme was conducted in the year 2000. The
main findings were:
The prevalence of leprosy has come down from 10.7 per
10,000 in 1994 to 5.2 per 10,000 population in March, 2000.
The percentage of leprosy cases receiving treatment has
increased from 98.5% to 99.7%.
Due to increased public awareness and campaign approach,
the new leprosy case detection rate has increased from 5.6
per 10,000 in 1993-94 to 7.0 per 10,000 in 1999-2000.
The percentage of districts with registered prevalence
rate of more than 10 per 10,000 in High endemic states, has
come down from 52.8% in 1995 to 10.8% in 1999. Similar
declining trends are seen in other States also.
MDT services are available in all the districts and the
quality of services provided has improved.
Following the outbreak of Plague in 1994, Government
of India constituted a Technical Advisory Committee to look
into the matter. One of the important recommendations of
the Committee was strengthening of disease surveillance. The
Government of India launched National Surveillance Programme
for Communicable Diseases on a pilot basis during 1997-98.
Presently, the same is in operation in 45 districts of 20
States. It is being expanded to cover 100 districts during
the remaining 2 years of 9th Plan period.
The Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) has
been reviewed jointly by Government of India and WHO in
February, 2000. It was found in the review that the
implementation of Revised National TB Control Programme
(RNTCP) in India has been successful. The diagnosis is
accurate and drug supply regular.
Under the Leprosy programme, free Multi Drug Therapy
(MDT) services are provided in all the districts of the
country. In endemic States the services are provided by
regular and contractual leprosy staff. In the low and
moderate States, the leprosy services are being integrated
with general health care.
Grant-in-aid is given to NGOs to provide survey,
education and treatment services in areas allotted by State
Governments. In order to provide medical rehabilitation,
leprosy affected patients, a Reconstructed Surgery Scheme
(RSS) is in operation under which NGOs are reimbursed at a
fixed rate for providing reconstruction surgery services for
leprosy related deformities. For social rehabilitation of
leprosy cured persons, aid is given to NGOs by Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment under the Scheme titled
`Scheme to Promote Voluntary Action for Persons with
Disabilities`.
Two rounds of Modified Leprosy Elimination Campaign
(MLEC) to detect hidden cases of leprosy have yielded 4.63
lakh cases in 1998-99 and 2.12 lakh cases in 1999-2000
respectively. Special Action Project for Elimination of
Leprosy (SAPEL) are conducted in tribal, hilly and difficult
to approach areas.
The statement giving details of cases detected under the
Modified Leprosy Elimination cases State-wise is Annexed.
ANNEXURE
NUMBER OF CASES DETECTED UNDER MLEC
S.No. States/UTs 1st MLEC 2nd MLEC 1997-98-99 1999-2000
1. Uttar Pradesh 57247 41016
2. Madhya Pradesh 20248 11272
3. Orissa 62844 27197
4. Bihar 206495 80496
5. West Bengal 39275 17167 6. Gujarat 3648 712
7 Assam 4054 1081
8. Andhra Pradesh 18742 7919
9. Maharashtra 20858 8352 10. Tamil Nadu 12796 12603 11. Karnataka 9881 3752 12. Kerala 1834 315 13. Arunachal Pradesh 153 53 14. Goa 72 16 15. Manipur 222 NA 16. Meghalaya 194 NA 17. Mizoram 89 26 18. Nagaland 26 30 19. Haryana 302 NA 20. Punjab 629 120 21. Rajasthan 1009 8 22. Sikkim 61 NA 23. Himachal Pradesh 155 NA 24. Tripura 392 NA 25. Jammu Division 857 NA 26. Kashmir Division 152 NA 27. A&N Islands NR NA 28. Chandigarh 112 NA 29. D&N Haveli 149 NA 30. Daman & Diu 79 NA 31. Delhi 723 NA 32. Lakshadweep 42 NA 33. Pondicherry 254 568
Total 463594 212703
Note NR - Not Reported, NA - Not Applicable.