Each year we invite churches, groups, schools and individuals to raise awareness and funds for one of our countries or projects in honour of World Leprosy Day. We call it Leprosy Sunday and in 2017 our focus is TLM’s Purulia Hospital in India.
Watch the following video to find out how your support will transform our hospital:
When 10-year-old Prem noticed some strange looking patches on his face, his family took him to a local doctor. The treatment he prescribed did not have any effect. The patches began to grow larger and his family grew more concerned. Finally, they decided to take him to TLM’s Purulia hospital as they had heard it had a specialist skin clinic. There, Prem was diagnosed with leprosy, along with his mother and uncle. The family were shocked; they had never heard of the disease before.
Prem feels self-conscious about his face, but the hospital staff are helping him come to terms with the diagnosis and are building his confidence so that he is able to go back to school, like any other 10-year-old boy.
Purulia Hospital has a long history of reaching out to those suffering from leprosy. Set up in 1888, the hospital has, for over 100 years, helped countless people in India who have leprosy. The driving force behind the work of the hospital has been sharing the love of Christ with those who have leprosy.
Over 45,000 people were treated in the hospital in the past year – double the numbers of previous years. The waiting area is overcrowded, and the staff are stretched.
Dr Joydeepa, the doctor who diagnosed Prem, is one of only two doctors treating 300 people each day in the outpatients’ department.
Many patients travel for hours to receive specialist leprosy care. We don’t want to turn anyone away, and need to build a new outpatients’ department to effectively continue this work.
Will you help us Transform Purulia Hospital?
£10 could provide bedding and clothes for a patient during a month’s stay at Purulia
£24 could supply the medicine to cure one person diagnosed with leprosy at Purulia
£50 could allow one young person affected by leprosy to attend school for one year
£500 could help provide clean toilet and washing facilities for patients at Purulia
Although World Leprosy Day is marked worldwide on the last Sunday of January each year, we invite churches, groups and individuals to raise awareness of our work and raise funds for The Leprosy Mission by hosting a church service or fundraising event on a day that best suits them.
Raise funds to change lives affected by leprosy
