Outdated leprosy law to be scrapped
Published:Tuesday | October 11, 2022 | 12:10 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Parliamentary Reporter
A 73-year-old law introduced in Jamaica when there was no cure for leprosy is to be repealed.
The Leprosy Act of 1949 makes provision for, and regulates, the custody and treatment of persons with leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease.
In 2011, then Health Minister Rudyard Spencer signalled his intention to repeal the Leprosy Act, but the move to scrap the law did not materialise.
Eleven years later, current Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has tabled a one-page bill to revoke the statute that has become irrelevant as the disease is said to be eliminated in Jamaica.
The World Health Organization (WHO) describes leprosy as a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, an acid-fast, rod-shaped bacterium. The disease mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosa of the upper respiratory tract, and the eyes. Leprosy is curable, and treatment in the early stages can prevent disability.
Leper homes
Under the act, persons suffering from the disease were required to be confined to a leprosarium, or leper home, to stop its spread.
Since the introduction of multidrug therapy (MDT) in the early 1980s, the disease can be diagnosed and treated successfully within the community. MDT eliminates the need to isolate persons suffering from the disease.
The memorandum of objects and reasons of the bill states that at present, no leprosaria – hospitals or other centres for the treatment or care of people with leprosy – are operational in Jamaica. The main leprosarium, which was situated in St Catherine, was closed in the 1980s after the introduction of MDT.
According to the document, with the advent of MDT, the prevalence of Hansen’s disease in Jamaica has significantly reduced to less than one case per 10,000 of the population.
“It is, therefore, regarded as having achieved elimination status and is no longer a major public health concern.”
The latest WHO data published in 2020 says that leprosy deaths in Jamaica were zero.
Public health expert Professor Winston Davidson said that leprosy is not easily transmissible, but noted that the problem was that at the time the facilities were operational, there was no cure for the disease and, as such, those afflicted had to be isolated and treated at a designated facility.
“Now, if the Government is saying that there is a viable cure for it, then it means that you do not need the isolation of the particular condition. The only problem is that persons with these lesions, some of them are horrendous,” he told The Gleaner.
Davidson indicated that he had no problem with scrapping the current law, but noted that persons with the condition would still be stigmatised.