<p>The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and all states on a plea seeking direction to provide free drugs, education, banking and other facilities to patients of leprosy which affect about 1.25 lakh people yearly in the country.<br /><br /></p>.<p>A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Vikramjit Sen admitted a PIL filed by Pankaj Sinha for hearing and sought response from the central and state governments within four weeks.<br /><br />Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner, contended that the leprosy patients were not allowed to have education, sanitary benefits and community based rehabilitation as a result of which they were driven to streets and eventually turned to begging or compelled to live in so-called leprosy homes where they received subhuman treatment. <br /><br />Despite the availability of Multi-Drug Therapy since 1981 which can cure 99 per cent cases of leprosy, people continued to suffer from the disease, treated as a social stigma due to apathy of the Centre and the state governments, he added.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and all states on a plea seeking direction to provide free drugs, education, banking and other facilities to patients of leprosy which affect about 1.25 lakh people yearly in the country.<br /><br /></p>.<p>A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Vikramjit Sen admitted a PIL filed by Pankaj Sinha for hearing and sought response from the central and state governments within four weeks.<br /><br />Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner, contended that the leprosy patients were not allowed to have education, sanitary benefits and community based rehabilitation as a result of which they were driven to streets and eventually turned to begging or compelled to live in so-called leprosy homes where they received subhuman treatment. <br /><br />Despite the availability of Multi-Drug Therapy since 1981 which can cure 99 per cent cases of leprosy, people continued to suffer from the disease, treated as a social stigma due to apathy of the Centre and the state governments, he added.</p>
