Role of a dermatologist in the post-elimination era

When leprosy was declared eliminated from India, the reaction of the entire country and that of the world must have been one of relief, and of achievement. Where does one go from here? Certainly it does not imply that we, as physicians, will never see a case of leprosy again. It is a burden that we shall bear for many more years to come till the happy day when leprosy is completely eradicated. The learning of the many aspects of leprosy takes experience and continued interest. Can this load be borne by the physicians? With the heavy workload of many other National programmes already on their shoulders, it does not seem fair to saddle them with another responsibility. That leaves us only with the dermatologist who is already in know of the cutaneous and the neural consequences of disease and who can be further trained to recognize all the aspects of leprosy.