Leprosy is a disease, which is also called as Hansen’s Disease and it is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria called Mycobacterium Lepromatosis and Mycobacterium Leprea. Medical candidates who wish to take up specialization to cure this disease, will have to take up Diploma in Leprosy course after completion of their MBBS course.

This course extends to a period of two years and only a few medical colleges offer this course in India and only a single government college offer this course in India and the name of this college is given below:

• Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research

Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research:

Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research is popularly called as JIPMER and it is an autonomous institution running under the government of Pondicherry and the Medical Council of India has permitted this institution to admit 2 students per year for the Diploma in Leprosy course.

Eligibility requirement:

For getting into the Diploma in Leprosy course, candidates must have completed their graduation in the field of medicine and they should also have completed their compulsory internship before the classes begin for Diploma in Leprosy course. The course duration is normally two years.

Admission Procedure:

Admission of Students to the Diploma course is done based on the marks secured by the candidates in the Post Graduate Medical Entrance Test since Diploma in Leprosy is a Post Graduate Diploma course. This PG medical entrance examination can be taken up by the candidates either as state level entrance examination or as national level examination. As far as JIPMER is concerned, the institute invited applications from eligible candidates to apply for the Diploma and other PG courses offered by it in leading newspapers and after the publication of the notification by the institution, candidates fulfilling the eligibility requirement will have to apply to the college for seeking admission to the Diploma in Leprosy course.

About the course:

Some medical colleges offer Leprosy as a part of Diploma in Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy, while some institutions offer it as a separate course as Diploma in Course. The duration of both these courses that are offered at PG level is two years and on successful completion of the course, candidates will have to obtain registration certificate from the state medical council of medical council of India to practice as a specialist in curing the greatest disease of Leprosy.