Srinagar, Feb 02 (KNS): The Jammu and Kashmir has 604 leper patients registered with the government and 445 people Haemophilia- genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding.
The official data in possession of Kashmir News Service (KNS), there are in total 604 leper patients registered in Jammu and Kashmir out of which 402 leper patients are registered in government medical college Jammu and one leper patient registered in GMC-Srinagar.
Furthermore, there are 445 number of Hemophilia patients registered in the state with GMC Srinagar recording their number as 284 and in at GMC Jammu, the number of such patients is 159.
Leprosy currently affects approximately a quarter of a million people throughout the world, with majority of these cases being reported from India.
Pertinently, India is a signatory of United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). India is currently running one of the largest leprosy eradication program in the world, the National Leprosy Eradication Program (NLEP). Still, 1.2 to 1.3 hundred thousand new cases of leprosy reported every year, 58% of the total amount of new cases reported every year. Since children are most susceptible to leprosy, they face worse discrimination and ostracisation from childhood, including the denial of basic rights and medical care.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has stated that in order to help the leper patients in the state, Micro- Cellular Rubber footwear are being provided to the needy patients. Furthermore, the government recently in the upper house of the state legislature informed that medicines and dressing material is also being provided to the patients. (KNS)