TREATMENT FOR LEPERS

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28263, 29 April 1957, Page 6

TREATMENT FOR LEPERS

N.Z. Help In Nepal

For the first time in history, treatment for leprosy is now offered to the victims of this disease in the Kingdom of Nepal, according to information received by the Rev. Murray H. Feist, of Auckland, secretary of the Mission to Lepers (N.Z.). After protracted negotiations, the international Mission to Lepers has been permitted to open a clinic in Katmandu, the capital, and the latest form of the drug, diamino diphenyl sulphone, is being administered in this country which has been till recently closed to all Western influences. In charge of the work is Dr. P. J. Chandy, from South India, who is still seeking Government authority to hold property and build a hospital there so that the mission may make available not only clinic treatment but also full in-patient treatment with occupational therapy and surgery for deformities. Roads Few and Poor

As roads are few and poor in Nepal, and motor transport almost non-existent, it was not practicable for the doctor to visit a number of widely-scattered treatment centres, the standard practice in many countries, said Mr Feist. Nor was it easy for patients to travel more than a few miles to get regular out-patient treatment at central clinics. For these reasons, a full-scale hospital was very necessary.

“This land of great mountains and great mountaineers really first heard of New Zealand when Sir Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa Tensing conquered their ‘Queen of the Snows,’ ’’ said Mr Feist. “This established something of a bond of interest between the two countries. The leaders of the mission are particularly glad that now at long last treatment can be offered to many leprosy sufferers among these hardy and independent people.” There were now 25 countries in which the Mission to Lepers was working.