It is reported that Dr. Prasad Ranaweera, the Director of the Leprosy Control Campaign of the Ministry of Health, said that it has been decided not to carry out leprosy tests in schools in the future.
He has further stated that the measures have been taken by focusing on the mental condition of the children and the process of investigations and identification of associates is being carried out in external places.
“More than 80% of children have non-infectious leprosy. The next thing is that when we identify such a child as a leper patient, when the examination is done at the respective school, that child will have a lot of mental pressure. Because there is a great fear that the PHI gentlemen, the medical officer of health, and the doctors will come and see because the child was diagnosed with leprosy. We are not disclosing the child’s identity. But in very rare cases it is possible to identify that child separately. The Ministry of Health’s anti-leprosy campaign decided that after we met a child with leprosy, they would not go to the child’s school to check for leprosy patients. We do only on special occasions. It is done only in very deliberate situations. Overall, we don’t do that.”
