New Face for Leprosy 

Patlavat is 38 years old and was diagnosed with leprosy 12 years ago.

“It was shortly after I gave birth to my daughter that I began developing blisters on my feet. I visited a private doctor.” The private doctor misdiagnosed her and prescribed her injections for a disease she did not have. “He was very expensive.”

Patlavat saw no sign of improvement and decided to go to a local hospital. There, she was diagnosed with leprosy and sent to a Lepra referral centre. She was prescribed Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) for twelve months and underwent strenuous counselling. The sensation in her feet and hands slowly improved. Unusually she had a lesion in her mouth, leaving a palate. “I don’t remember when that started.”

She has three children, two boys and a girl. “I’ve been a construction worker for the past three years.

Every second day, Patlavat practices the self-care Lepra taught her and bathes her feet.

“Apart from my sister-in-law, no one knows I have leprosy. It makes me sad.” Her husband is an alcoholic and is very abusive towards her. He lives in Hyderabad and returns occasionally to demand money and steal from the house.

“I live for my children.”