General News
Absence of specialist cripples clinic
BANGALORE: Severe cognitive and neuromotor impairments are common among extremely premature infants. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed premature birth as one of the main causes for disability among children.
Unfortunately, the rate of premature birth at Vani Vilas Hospital, the stateโs largest maternity hospital, is 33% and so the risk of children being born with disability is high. But, sadly, the hospitalโs disability clinic exclusively for children has been closed for over a month.
This was the first disability clinic in a government hospital exclusively for children. The Indira Gandhi Institute for Child Health also has a disability clinic and these are the only two such clinics in the state, both managed by the Spastics Society of Karnataka.
โFor almost eight years, weโve been running these disability clinics in the government hospitals without any financial support from the government,โ said Rabindran Isaac, in-charge of the clinic.
โRecently, the hospital paediatrician, who was associated with the clinic, was transferred and even after repeated requests, the hospital authorities havenโt deputed a paediatrician. So, in the last week of November, we finally submitted a letter of discontinuing services and not been operational for more than a month now,โ explained Rabindran.
This clinic has also been a learning centre for post-graduate medical students as most donโt have practical experience of running a rehabilitation centre for disabled. Treating disabled children, especially those with cerebral palsy and neuromuscular dystrophy, is beyond diagnosis and physiotherapy.
Secondly, occupational therapists or speech therapists are very few and the majority of patients are from Below Poverty Line families. So, parents have to be trained in special education to take care of these children. From feeding, bathing, toilet training, etc., parents have to be educated to train their children to be independent. This treatment is beyond improving their mobility and the disability clinic has also been a referral centre.
โThe majority of parents are not aware of available treatment facilities. Most often, children with neuromuscular dystrophy are referred to Nimhans or our centre. But there are many other centres where the parents can access treatment.โ
While the government talks about inclusive education, the fact remains that without this basic training, children with developmental disability canโt be integrated in mainstream schools.
At the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, apart from the disability clinic there is also a free special school for these children. They are trained in pre-school learning mainly to prepare them for mainstream school. This also includes feeding, toilet training, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, pre-vocational training, Individual Education Plan for each child and functional literacy. The clinic and school are open five days a week, and more than 50 disabled children use them.
While the Spastics Society of Karnataka planned to extend its service from one day to five days at Vani Vilas Hospital, the clinic had to closed due to lack of support from the hospital authorities. โParents regularly come for vaccination at these hospitals and once disability is identified, they are referred to our clinic. Such clinics at government hospitals like Vani Vilas are more accessible to parents and treatment follow-up is good,โ added Rabindran.
Additional Information
Country: India
Website: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Absence-of-specialist-cripples-clinic/articleshow/5434927.cms
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Source: Mail from: MORI Soya
When: 14/1/2010
