green pastures Hospital, pokHara, Nepal  

Ashish (late teens, living at home in Salyan)

Around two years ago, Ashish began suffering from discoloured patches on his skin. His sister suspected leprosy, and took him to a regional hospital. He was then referred to Green Pastures Hospital (GPH) where he finally received a correct diagnosis. He has since received regular treatment and has been admitted as an inpatient on several occasions for leprosy reactions. He says of his hospital stays: “I felt adored and cared for. Green Pastures Hospital is my second home away from home”.

Ashish has built great relationships with the doctors and other medical staff, during his regular physio and occupational therapy sessions. However, his relationships with his own family have been negatively affected by his condition. His brothers and sister-in-law, who all live locally, would not visit him during his hospital stays. The emotional toll of being ostracized his own family cannot be underestimated, but with the support of GPH, Ashish has managed to remain positive. 

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Although I faced stigma and discrimination from my family members, coming here to Green Pastures Hospital , I realised that the disease could be cured. I wish to continue my further study after completing my treatment. I shall engage myself in making people aware of the disease and about the stigma generated from the society which is more toxic than the disease itself. The disease can be cured, but the stigma that society has it needs to be cured too”. 

Dil Kumari (23, lives at home)  
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Dil Kumari developed patches on her left hand when she was just 19 years old. She was initially sent to a central hospital, where leprosy was diagnosed and she began treatment. But within a year, her left hand was becoming clawed and almost impossible to use. Dil Kumari was frightened of discrimination in her community because of this deformity. The hospital referred her to the Hand Surgery Week that the Green Pastures Hospital was holding. A very specialised team was able to correct her deformity through surgery, and has supported her since with occupational and physiotherapy. Dil Kumari and her husband are so grateful to GPH that she can now work again in the home and will not suffer a deformity

What I would like the world to know about leprosy is curable disease and it has no social stigma”.

Gulam (30 living at home in Banke District)

Gulam was married by the age of 21 with a child to support. He began experiencing blisters and patches on his elbow, ankle, foot and hands, which later progressed to loss of sensation in his feet. It was not until a year later that he was finally diagnosed with leprosy at a general hospital.

Unfortunately by this time, he was getting clawing of his right hand and lagophthalmos in his right eye (a condition preventing the eye from closing properly). By this time, Gulam had more children and was also supporting his mother and younger brother.

His hand weakness and deformity led to him becoming unemployed, and he desperately needed reconstructive surgery in order to be able to work again. Gulam attended the Hand Surgery Week at GPH, and had both his right hand and right eye corrected whilst there. He and his family are so grateful that they could do this, as he is now working on a farm and able to support them. And he will not suffer from the social stigma that so often comes with deformities through leprosy. He has helped his mother and brother seek medical help, from which they were diagnosed with and treated for leprosy.
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Gulam has now formed a self-help group of 36 people affected by leprosy, including some newly diagnosed with the condition, meaning he can now help others through the knowledge and experience that he has gained.

I want people to know leprosy when detected at early stage is helpful to prevent complications and deformities”.