The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) kicked off a joint campaign for the prevention of Tuberculosis and Leprosy on Tuesday. The campaign will continue till December 16 and a total of 3,42,645 people of the total population will be covered. The purpose of the campaign to conduct tests of these two diseases and also disseminate information on leprosy and tuberculosis.
A total of 291 teams have been formed compromising one male and one female member to visit a total of 1,01,698 households across the city and conduct tests of 3,42,645 people.
According to the civic health department, each team will visit at least 25 households per day and collect information. The survey area has been selected keeping in view the patients found earlier in the NMMC’s jurisdiction. The area included are slums, construction workers, quarries among others.
“Each team will have one female and one male member. The women in the house will be checked by the female staff and the men will be checked by the male staff. Leprosy will be diagnosed with symptoms of pale/red skin on the skin, lack of perspiration, thick, dull oily/shiny skin, lumps on the skin, thickening of the earlobes, thinning of the eyebrows, thinning of the eyes,” said a senior civic official.
He added that similarly, for tuberculosis, symptoms such as cough for more than two weeks, fever for more than two weeks, significant weight loss, bleeding through the sputum, and a lump in the neck will be examined.
If any person is found with leprosy symptoms, the person will be referred to the medical officer for diagnosis. If symptoms of tuberculosis are found, two sputum samples will be taken at one-hour intervals and the diagnosis will be confirmed at the end of the examination by referring to X-rays.
The campaign aims to eradicate leprosy by detecting undiagnosed patients as soon as possible, finding new contagious leprosy, and using multiple medications to reduce the spread of the disease. Similarly, TB patients who are still deprived due to lack of diagnosis will be brought in for treatment. The civic chief has appealed to citizens to cooperate in the survey.
