After years of neglect, Leprosy Hospital set for better days

After years of neglect, the Leprosy Hospital on Magadi Road is set to get a facelift with the state government planning to renovate it at Rs 88 lakh.

The ​​​​​Karnataka Health System Development and Reform Project, funded by the World Bank, sent a proposal to the Department of Health and Family Welfare in November-end to renovate the hospital.

While Rs 45 lakh is estimated to be spent on upgrading and renovating the operation theatre, Rs 40 lakh is the approximate cost for general repair of the hospital, said Dr S Pushparaj, Joint Director, Leprosy, Department of Health and Family Welfare.

The hospital has been in a bad shape ever since the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited demolished a part of the compound wall six years ago for building the western stretch of Namma Metro’s Purple Line. The construction debris is still strewn all around the hospital.

The inner sections of the hospital aren’t any better. The walls of the building cracked recently, forcing the staff to shift the patients to a smaller ward. Heavy equipment has been moved into the hospital building for construction of Arogya Bhavan that will house the proposed health commissionerate, a source in the hospital said.

The operation theatre needs to be upgraded. Unlike in other hospitals, the operation theatre at Leprosy Hospital has no Hepa air filters which are required to keep the room sanitised.  “This is just one of the shortcomings. The century-old hospital has not been upgraded for a long time,” the source said and revealed that ministers and high-ranking officials rarely visit the hospital because of the stigma attached with leprosy. During the renovation, patients with deformities will be operated at the government-run KC General and Victoria hospitals. Ten beds in each hospital will be reserved to isolate patients, the source added.
DH News Service

Downsizing for leprosy programme
With a reduction in leprosy cases over the years, the state government is gradually downsizing its leprosy programme by closing sub-centres and retaining only district centres. Accordingly, five staffers of each district hospital will be trained to treat leprosy. During an extensive testing across Karnataka in September 2016, as many as 137 new cases came to light. Of them, 121 are from Ballari and 16 from Chamarajanagar. The government has decided to prescribe the antibiotic Rifampicin to prevent bacterial infection to those who may come in contact with a leprotic person.