Mumbai: BMC's drive to detect tuberculosis, leprosy starts tomorrow

Mumbai: BMC will on Monday start a door-to-door drive to detect cases of tuberculosis and leprosy. Around 2,829 civic teams will visit 9.86 lakh homes covering a population of 40 lakh before October 12, said a BMC press release.

Both tuberculosis and leprosy are infectious diseases that the Centre has pledged to eradicate by 2025 and 2030 respectively. Currently, there are around 50,000 patients of tuberculosis undergoing treatment in city, but BMC officials believe there could be some who couldn't reach out for help due to pandemic.

Even in the case of leprosy, while the BMC would detect 400 to 500 cases annually, there have been only 236 detections this year so far. BMC officials expect higher detections of leprosy cases this year because the effect of the pandemic has diminished.

"The drive will help us detect cases in families and start the patient on treatment at the earliest,'' said a civic health officer. BMC executive health officer Dr Mangala Gomare said, BMC teams would revisit homes if people are not available.