The minister said 1,748 new leprosy patients were detected in Sri Lanka by November last year.

"Out of this number, 42 percent (738 patients) were from the Western Province.

Out of this, 338 patients were from the Colombo district. During the past decade, 2,000 new Leprosy patients were reported from Sri Lanka annually," he said.

Dr. Senaratne said in eight high risk districts, there are eight leprosy patients for every 100,000 persons and Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa and Ampara districts are among them.