On World Leprosy Day, survivors Shobha Devi and Mahender Misser of Jour village in Palamau received a surprise visit from civil surgeon, Palamau, John F. Kennedy and disease consultant M.K. Mehta, who inquired about their health.

Leprosy, a rare skin infection, is looked down upon by society, resulting in patients to avoid getting treatment.

Shobha, whose feet are deformed, found herself in a similar situation and got too late in starting her treatment. According to Kennedy, she was treated for six months and was saved from further deformities.

On Saturday, the visiting officials made her run from the sadar hospital to the block hospital.

Mahender Misser, meanwhile, has deformities in both his hands, and also wasted time in getting treatment.

He said as he used to work with iron bars he thought his hands were getting stiff because of handling the bars, and only came to know later of his condition.

In order to treat him, officials had given him a ball to press the hands and a tub to wash them, but both got damaged. Kennedy asked Mehta to provide him with the essentials.

Mahender’s hands are now clawed because he took the leprosy medication too late, the civil surgeon said.

District leprosy officer M.P. Singh said the disease rate is less than one per 10,000 population in Palamau.

Kennedy said that apart from observing World Leprosy Day on every last Sunday of January, Jharkhand launches a two-week drive to identify the patients.