Rotarians gain insight into life after leprosy
Dr. Atul Shah
Dr. Atul Shah is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon at the Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital in Vile Parle, Mumbai.He is also a Founder member and Director of the Novartis Comprehensive Leprosy Care Association.
Born in 1949 in Jetpur, Gujarat, Dr. Shah completed his MS General Surgery in 1976 and MS Plastic Surgery in 1978 from Grant Medical College, Mumbai and Sir J. J. Group of Hospitals, Mumbai. Dr. Shah is also a member of the National Academy of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
He has been an honorary professor of plastic surgery at Grant Medical College and Sir J. J. Group of Hospitals. He has also served as District Consultant and Training Consultant for the National Leprosy Eradication Program, Government of India. Dr. Shah has also worked with the World Bank and the World Health Organization.
Dr. Shah has championed the cause of reaching plastic surgery and reconstructive surgery in leprosy to the poor by way of the ‘Camp and Workshop Approach’. He has conducted several plastic surgery camps all over India, which has been appreciated by the Rotary Club, Lions Club, various state governments and many other host organisations.
Besides many national and international awards, the Indian Association of Leprologists conferred Dr. Shah with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dr. Shah thanked the Club for giving him the opportunity to talk to Rotarians. He said, “I would like to speak on my favourite subject, that is, the treatment of leprosy. Leprosy is at first seen as a skin patch which has no sensation but if not treated early, it can lead to physical disabilities. In some patients, it is detected only after them having suffered deformities. Many consider leprosy to be contagious, while only 15 per cent of the cases are communicable. A minimum treatment of one month to a maximum of one year is required in 99 per cent of the cases and very few patients may require a little longer. The credit of discovering the cure for leprosy goes to the Novartis Foundation. Since leprosy is the disease of the poorest of the poor, Novartis decided that they should not be profiting from this and has been providing the medication for free since 2000. 45 million doses have been donated so far, curing more than 5 million people throughout the world, of which, 4,40,000 patients have been cured in India.”
He spoke about his journey with Novartis. “When I started working with Novartis in 1989, at Borsad Taluka, there was no elimination objective but after two years, WHO decided that objective of elimination (elimination as occurrence of less than one case per ten thousand), and as a CSR project, we started work on leprosy. The Nippon Foundation supported it and later on, Novartis added value to it, but by then, India had become home to more than six hundred thousand disabled patients. In 2005, leprosy was eliminated as a public health problem, but today, we realize that, in definition, that may be true but not in reality. 1,50,000 cases have been detected every year, over the last five years of which, 13,000 of them are children. Every year, the disability load on the community is increasing and unless we do something about disability patients, the society will not believe that leprosy has been eliminated.
“Leading the fight against leprosy, Novartis created a programme for improving the quality of life of a leprosy patient and more than 25,000 patients have been helped through this so far. More than one lakh patients have been reached by government staff trained by us. There are two ways of treating leprosy; one through a cure for the disease and the other through early case detection. Leprosy affects the nerves so you lose sensations, motor power and develop deformities. However, if medicated within six months, you can prevent further damage. Health education should be given to patients who have lost sensation in their hands and feet. If there’s numbness in your hands and feet, you should see a doctor immediately. We, at Novartis, have created educational material for patients of leprosy. We also have group therapy and exercise. Early deformities can be cured with medication even before they require corrective surgery by the use of elastic splints,” he added.
Dr. Shah then discussed a variety of treatments practiced at Novartis. He explained, “Reconstructive surgeries for those who are beyond home care have been designed by me. Their bent fingers can be cured through a procedure in less than 20 minutes. You can even have plastic surgery for eyebrow grafting and nose reconstruction done by us. Some patients also need economic rehabilitation, so we have provided alternative economic means to more than 3,000 patients. What we need to do today is not only reach patients, but create awareness among people. Let us not only make life after leprosy worth living, but together, make leprosy history.”