TLM Hospital, Naini

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After being met from the train from Varanasi to Allahabad by a TLM driver we spent the night at the TLM Guesthouse over the road from the hospital. The food during our stay was the best we have eaten since we have been here.

On the morning of Monday the 22^nd of April Andrew and I were shown around the inspiring Naini hospital. The hospital works with both leprosy patients and non-leprosy patients in order to decrease the stigma of the disease. The bellow covers just one aspect of the amazing work being done at Naini Hospital. Please see further entries for more on the CALL (Challenge Anti Leprosy Legislation) Campaign and the work being done by outreach social worker programs in the community.

We also want to say that it was wonderful to meet Becky Hodge (a friend of my friend Louisa's from Bristol University) who is working in the Hospital for her placement. We had a great time with Becky at dinner and lunch and she gave us a great insight into working in the hospital and was a homely comfort following our Varanasi expedition!

Self-Stigma

One of the biggest issues facing the mental treatment of persons affected by leprosy is self-stigma. Sufferers believe that they have been punished for something that they have done and deserve the disease that has been given to them. Further, these people have often been deserted by the ones they love and left in a hospital pending treatment. We met one man whose brother had left him at Naini Hospital saying he would come back when he was treated. The brothers came from a wealthy family who could more than have taken care of him and paid for his treatment. The brother never returned. You could see the sadness on the man's face when the hospital counsellor asked if he had heard from him yet. The Counsellor had rang his brother in an attempt to persuade him to come back and take care of him but he merely rep

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