Leprosy hospital to be completed by March 31

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Stone was laid in 2017

The non-availability of adequate funds has delayed its timely completion. Its foundation stone was laid in September 2017, just before the Assembly elections

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan,February 4

The much-awaited Zonal Leprosy Hospital being constructed at Lohanjee village on the Kumarhatti-Nahan road, which will house 13 patients, is likely to be completed by March end.

The non-availability of adequate funds has delayed its timely completion. Its foundation stone was laid in September 2017, just before the Assembly elections and a budget of Rs 3 crore was announced for its completion. However, this fund was never released and the officials of the Health Department had to work hard to consolidate requisite funds for its construction. The total project cost has been pegged at Rs 4.31 crore and the PWD was assigned the job to construct it.

Executive Engineer, PWD, Kasauli, Rajesh Kumar, said a sum of Rs 3.31 crore had been received till now and the fund was available in a piecemeal manner with few lakhs being released from time to time though they had managed to get the work executed with available funds.

He said the work had two components — construction of the approach road and site development. He said the work to complete the foundation was underway and the laying of pre-fabricated structures would be completed by March end.

Notably, the state has a low prevalence rate of 0.19 of the grade-II leprosy, whose patients require hospitalisation as there is visible deformity restricting movement.

District Leprosy Officer, Dr Udit Rastogi, said the Zonal Leprosy Hospital at Solan was receiving few patients now and no patient suffering from Grade-II leprosy, which is a debilitating condition requiring hospitalisation, had come since 2017-18. He said the state was targeting to eliminate Grade-II leprosy by October 2020. He said the hospital housed old patients who had been admitted since 1980.

He said 46 leprosy patients, who were suffering from minor symptoms, were being treated at home in various parts of the district.

The hospital it appears will have limited utilisation once set up as it housed only 18 patients earlier. While it promises hope to those inflicted with leprosy, the reluctance of the successive state governments to spare funds in time has delayed its benefits to its patients.

The new hospital is being constructed on the High Court directions. As many as 13 leprosy patients were being shifted from one makeshift arrangement to another for the past seven years, ever since their earlier dwelling at Mandodhar was transferred to the Education Department for the construction of a college. They were finally housed in a single hall with a few facilities at Chambaghat.