'Successful measures helped eradicate leprosy'

Harshini PERERA

A dedicated staff is needed in the elimination of leprosy just like an Army in the war against terrorism, said the Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition Nimal Siripala De Silva.

He was presiding at a function to issue a stamp and the first day cover on the tricentenary celebration of the Leprosy hospital in Hendala with the assistance of the Philatelic Bureau of Sri Lanka.

The Minister said that successful measures such as the multi-treatment system, social marketing campaigns were introduced to eradicate leprosy from Sri Lanka. In a time of war and hard times the Government still found a way to eliminate Leprosy, he said.

He also mentioned that it would not have been an easy task without the cooperation of Nova Notice Foundation and Sasakawa Foundation, who assisted the Ministry in social marketing campaign as well as in the treatments. And the stigma and discrimination attached to diseases like Leprosy and Tuberculosis should be eradicated from society, he mentioned further.

Secretary to the Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition Athula Kahandaliyanage said that the Leprosy hospital built in Hendala in 1708 was the oldest hospital in South Asia for Leprosy.