Demonstration of f skin smear examination

SHAHDARA (NEW DELHI): The Leprosy Mission Trust India’s Shahdara Hospital, in New Delhi, conducted a one-day training workshop in leprosy for laboratory technicians working in Delhi government hospitals, on November 29.

Dr C. M. Agrawal, Leprosy Consultant, World Health Organization (WHO) and former Deputy Director General (Leprosy) of the Govt of India inaugurated the workshop which was attended by 42 laboratory technicians from various Delhi government-run hospitals.

The participants were introduced to various aspects of leprosy, like clinical leprosy; characteristics of Mycobacterium leprae, the bacterium that causes leprosy; and skin smear tests (theory and practical demonstration).

At a time when leprosy expertise is dwindling in the country (in India, every 4 minutes, someone is newly diagnosed with leprosy, which makes it over 1,25,000 new cases a year. This is 60% of the global leprosy caseload), by building the capacity of technicians to do laboratory-based scientific investigation, TLMTI is contributing in a great way for eliminating leprosy from India.

At the close of the workshop, Dr Agrawal distributed course certificate to the participants.