CUTTACK : At least 24 physically and mentally challenged children were given training on first aid so as to make them capable of providing help to others at the time of disaster. St. John's Ambulance service in collaboration with UNDP and Orissa State disaster management authority provided the training to the students of `Sahaya', a Red Cross centre (school) for disabled children.

At the concluding day of the ten-day long training here on Wednesday, the children demonstrated their skill to could come to the rescue of people at the time of the need.

Minimise casualties

Attending the valedictory function here, the UNDP team leader P.K. Jena informed that this is perhaps for the first time in the country that the disabled children received training on first aid. "Since we want that all persons in the society to be adequately trained on first aid to minimise the casualties at the time of disasters, we thought of this unique idea and the St John Ambulance handled the arduous task with perfection," Jena said.

"This was an attempt to ensure that the children could not only help themselves at the time of disaster but the training was focused more to emphasis the point that the children are also differently able and they are not burden on others," said Mrinalini Padhi, the secretary of Sahaya on the valedictory function of the training programme.

"Ever since the school started functioning here since 1991, it has been our endeavour to conduct such a programme," Padhi said. Padhi hoped that the society would now no more count these special children as burden or liabilities. Rather, the trained children would now turn out to be assets to the society, she said.

Various aspects

The children received training on various aspects of first aid like providing the initial medical help to injured persons having bone fracture, nose and ear bleeding or are victims of snakebite, dog bite, heart attack, and epilepsy, informed the state secretary of St. John Ambulance service Chhabindra Prasad Mohanty.

Basic motto

"In fact these children were more receptive to the training than other children," said trainer Bikash Prasad. It was a great experience interacting with the disabled children who were taught the very basic motto of first aid, that is: not to give further trouble to injured persons, he said.

The parents of the children and the staff of Sahaya were also given training on first aid on the occasion.

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