Doctors in India have expressed concern that health authorities are playing down the number of patients with leprosy in a bid to declare that they have eliminated leprosy as a public health problem by the end of this year.

In line with the elimination target set by the World Health Organization, the Indian health ministry has said that the prevalence of leprosy in India is expected to reach one case per 10 000 people by December 2005.

But public health specialists cautioned last week that health authorities would meet that target only through “artful manipulation” of the definition of leprosy and by “avoiding …