Udik has not gone to school and has stopped playing with his peers since the traumatic experience of being alienated and discriminated against because of his worsening leprosy, which has affected parts of his fingers and legs.

The 13-year-old, the third son of five brothers and sisters, is from a poor family in Kendit village, Situbondo and prefers instead to stay home with his 65-year-old grandmother, Misnaya, who has taken care of him since he was born. Misnaya lives a life of alienation and exile, secluded in her hut. She said she feels guilty of having unintentionally transferred her leprosy to her grandson. "I have been stranded in this village because I can no longer endure the discrimination exerted by the society against us. I never wanted this kind of this disease but I have been infected.

"This (disease) is considered a condemnation from God and is transferred to my children and grandchildren and that is why we have been alienated," Antara quoted her as saying.

Kendit is home to 39 families, all infected with leprosy.

Misnaya declined the offer of a free visit to a doctor at the public health center because she feared her hands and legs would be amputated.

Idrus, a 25-year-old resident of Lorokan village in Kejayan district, Pasuruan, suffered severe injuries when, in September, he was caught trying to steal a motorbike and was beaten up.

He said he wanted the bike so he could make money to buy medicine to cure his leprosy.

Adj. Comr. Ainul Yakin of the local police office confirmed that the suspect was beaten by an angry mob after being caught red-handed trying to steal his neighbor's bike. Idrus said he committed the crime after being denied medication by the public health center and after his fianc* refused to merry him because of the leprosy.

Last week, up to 100 members of the Indonesian Independent Leprosy Association (Permata) staged a sympathy rally at Lamongan Square demanding equality for the provinces' leprosy sufferers.

Distributing flowers and stickers rejecting discrimination against leprosy sufferers, rally participants appealed to the local government and employers to give equal treatment to those suffering from the disease.

Permata Chairman in East Java Achmad Zainuddin called on the government to launch a campaign against discrimination of leprosy suffers and to enhance cooperation with clerics and informal leaders to disseminate facts about leprosy in an effort to phase out the social stigma surrounding the disease.

"Lamongan is home to 556 known leprosy sufferers who are in need of greater attention from the local government in terms of free medication and access to jobs," he said, citing the fact that the regency had the second highest number of leprosy sufferers in East Java, after Madura.

Achmad stressed that the disease caused by microbacterium leprae was not a death sentence and could be healed by regularly taking medication, which is available for free.

Head of the public health center in Kendit, Anna Reni Refnawati, concurred and said local people should not impose social sanctions, which she says have made leprosy sufferers reluctant to visit the public health center.

She said health workers, in cooperation with certain NGOs, had taken the proactive approach of visiting leprosy sufferers in certain villages in the regency to persuade them to visit the health center to get the free medication.

Head of the Probolinggo Health Office, Siswantoro, said the regency had the fifth highest number of leprosy cases in East Java, after Pamekasan, lamongan, Sumenep and Sampang. "Of 343 leprosy sufferers in 2005, 92 percent were healed through regular medication and of 360 in 2006, 83 percent were healed and went back to their family," he said.

Siswantoro called on the provincial government to intensify the anti-discrimination campaign and continue disseminating facts on the disease and how sufferers should be treated with the aim of making the province free from the transferable disease in the next decade.

"Sufferers can be healed within 12 months through regular treatment," he said.

The leprosy hospital in Kediri said last week that four leprosy sufferers died last year after being denied access to medication by their family.

Limarchaban, head of the leprosy treatment section at the hospital, said the four died after their natural immunities were gradually killed by the leprosy virus. "They died of liver and kidney failures with lung and eye problems."

He said the hospital admitted between 30 and 50 patients monthly and provides medication for around 250 sufferers.

"The most important thing is that people should not alienate leprosy sufferers and phase out the stigma that the disease is a condemnation from God," he said.

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