Titagarh Leprosy Colony Shows How Post-Cure Rehabilitation Changes Lives

A pre-med neuroscience student recently visited a leprosy colony in India, and found it to be an eye-opening experience. After spending a day at Gandhiji Prem Nivas – one of the last of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity leprosy colonies, based in Titagarh – she reported the following to The Observer:1

• The colony provides a place of acceptance, community and even income for leprosy patients who have faced rejection from the rest of society.
• Only a handful of patients were in the medical ward receiving active treatment, while many residents of the colony were focused on cultivating a normal day-to-day life. 
• Skilled patients have learned to weave on looms to produce saris for Missionaries of Charity sisters. Two former patients work as the resident cobbler and prosthetics designer, creating functional footwear and orthosis devices for the rest of the community. 
• Establishing a sense of autonomy and independence helps the residents feel a sense of dignity as they regain their health. 

This centre is not a hospital, but a largely self-sustaining rehabilitation centre that helps prepare patients to integrate back into society.2

At The Leprosy Mission, we believe strongly in “care after cure” and we support initiatives that help recovering leprosy patients manage the potentially lasting effects of the disease, and learn skills that will help them support themselves. 

• Find out more about Missionaries of Charity.
• Find out more about The Leprosy Mission Southern Africa.