Our Muzaffarpur SEED Partners provide vital funding for a Community Leprosy Hospital located on the outskirts of Muzaffarpur city.

• The Leprosy Mission has been working in Muzzafarpur since 1904, when a small leprosy home was established to cater to the needs of leprosy-affected people who had been driven away from their homes. Gradually it became a hospital of 60 beds.
• For more than 100 years, the hospital has served thousands of people and families from several districts of Bihar and adjacent states, providing them with treatment for leprosy and general health problems.
• The hospital has both outpatient and inpatient departments, as well as a pharmacy and a laboratory. Physiotherapy, counselling and specialist eye care services are also available.

The major ongoing activities carried out in the hospital that our SEED Partners help to fund include:

• Diagnosis of new leprosy cases
• Leprosy treatment
• Admission of leprosy -affected people with complications
• Reconstructive surgery and prevention of disability
• Ulcer management
• Physiotherapy services
• Eye surgeries
• Dermatology services
• Counselling services
• Pre and post test counselling for HIV/AIDS
• Community camps for marginalised people and families

In the last 12 months, with the support of our SEED Partners, the hospital has touched the lives of hundreds of leprosy affected people:

• 589 people were newly diagnosed with leprosy.
• 497 of them received multi-drug therapy.
• 51 leprosy-affected people had reconstructive surgery.
• 39 leprosy-affected people had cataract surgery.
• 387 leprosy-affected people received ulcer care.
• 43 leprosy-affected people were treated for reaction and Neuritis.
• Protective footwear has been provided on an ongoing basis to leprosy- affected people.

Arvind Kumar's Story

Arvind Kumar is 18 years old. He comes from a poor agricultural family who live in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar. He is the only one of his siblings who has been able to go to school.

About a year ago he developed white patches on his right hand, but he ignored them for almost 6 months until eventually he started to lose feeling. Finally he told his parents, and they took him to see a doctor in Muzaffarpur who referred them to the local Leprosy Mission hospital for treatment.

Upon his arrival he was diagnosed with leprosy and given a six month course of multi-drug therapy. The staff at the hospital talked to Arvind and his parents about the causes and consequences of leprosy and explained how important it was to keep taking the medication for the full 6 months.

Arvind took his medication every day, but after 4 months he developed a clawed finger on his right hand.  The doctors asked him to do finger exercises but he ignored their advice as he was preparing for his final examinations at school. His family became increasingly concerned about his clawed finger. They were worried that Arvind would be discriminated against at school and within their community due to the stigma surrounding the disease.

Thanks to the counselling he received at the hospital, Arvind was able to stay focused on his studies and did extremely well in his exams, despite having trouble writing due to his clawed finger. Then, during his last visit for multi-drug therapy he was told that he could have reconstructive surgery to straighten his finger.

The surgery was successful and made a significant impact on him physically, socially and psychologically. He now has the confidence to pursue further study and his family are no longer worried that he will be discriminated against.

Dipnarayan's Story

Twelve years ago, when Dipnarayan was working as a labourer for the Food Corporation of India in Assam, he began to notice that his foot was weak. It became so bad that it began dragging along the ground, making it harder and harder for him to do his job.

He realised it was probably leprosy and visited a traditional healer who gave him some medicine. But it didn't help and made the problem worse, burning the skin on his foot. Because he couldn't walk properly, he was not able to continue working.

'The disease made me weak and I couldn't carry the boxes on my head,' he says.

Eventually he made the decision to return to his home town of Muzaffarpur. Here, he went to the Leprosy Mission hospital for treatment.

'When I came to know about the hospital I came here for treatment,' he explains. 'Some village people told me about the hospital. I got shoes and medicine and my wound healed.'

For Dipnarayan, having leprosy affectednot only him but also his wife and four children. His damaged foot made work difficult, and he was struggling to earn a living. Thankfully, the staff at the hospital were able to refer him to a community-based rehabilitation project in Muzaffarpur supported by the Leprosy Mission. The project helps leprosy-affected people improve their economic status through initiatives like vocational training and self-help groups.

Dipnarayan was able to get a loan to buy his own rickshaw. Now he has more independence.

'Before, I was riding other people's rickshaws. Now, I don't need to pay out because it's my own rickshaw. It feels nice having my own rickshaw,' he says happily.

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