Retrieval of 'left the area leprosy cases' by cross-notification.

It has been noticed that a large number of cases registered as Leprosy under National Leprosy Control Programme are being deleted (approximately 20-25% of total cases) as 'Left the area' every year. It is not known what is happening to these 'left the area cases'. It is resulting in loss of regularity of treatment to the patient, continuation of transmission of infection in the community and multiple registration of the same case as new case at several places giving rise to false Incidence Rates. A system of cross-notification is suggested to overcome this problem.