The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) will conduct two phases of survey from July 2021 to March 2022 in slums, constructions sites and quarries which are high-risk areas to monitor cases of Tuberculosis and Leprosy. The civic body has formed 151 teams that will visit around 4.7 lakh citizens during the survey period.
As per the guidelines of the Central Government, a decision has been taken at the state level to jointly implement "Active Leprosy Detection and Regular Monitoring" under the National Leprosy Eradication Program and "Active Tuberculosis Research Campaign" under the National Tuberculosis Eradication Program. The main objective of this joint campaign is to find and treat primary leprosy and tuberculosis patients.
Slums, construction sites, and quarries among others are high-risk areas where the civic body will conduct surveys in two phases—July 2021 to October 2021 and December 2021 to March 2022. Similarly, in low-risk areas, first round survey will be conducted from July 2021 to March 2022. Under this campaign, awareness will be created by visiting 4,72,911 people through 151 teams and monitoring the citizens.
Under the National Leprosy Eradication Program, the aim is to find new leprosy patients at an early stage and provide them with free full-time medication to prevent malignancies and break the chain of leprosy infection in society. In addition, measures are being taken, keeping in mind that the misconceptions in society about this disease can be reduced through public awareness.
Similarly, the National Tuberculosis Eradication Program aims to diagnose suspected tuberculosis patients who have not yet been diagnosed with tuberculosis by examining their sputum samples and X-rays and starting free medication after confirmation.
Each squad will have one Asha volunteer and one male volunteer. The women in each household will be examined by Asha and the men will be examined by male volunteers. Symptoms of leprosy include pale/reddish numbness on the skin, thick, numb oily/shiny skin, lumps on the skin, thickening of the earlobes, inability to close the eyes completely.
Also, for tuberculosis, symptoms like cough for more than two weeks, fever for more than two weeks, significant weight loss, bleeding through saliva, lump in the neck will be checked.
After finding the symptoms of leprosy, it will be referred to the medical officer for diagnosis. If symptoms of tuberculosis are found, the diagnosis will be confirmed by taking two sputum samples at one-hour intervals and referring them for X-ray.
