The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Social security scheme for the disabled launched

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Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Social security scheme for the disabled launched

Special Correspondent

Novel initiative of Nemom block panchayat

7,000 disabled persons under the block panchayat
Plans drawn up for a resource centre for the disabled

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Nemom block panchayat has taken up a community-based health care and rehabilitation project aimed at improving the lot of disabled persons. Named ‘Sampoorna,’ the project seeks to provide home care facilities and vocational training for the needy among the disabled.

According to project coordinator K.Vijayachandran, Sampoorna was designed to address the needs of disabled persons from children to senior citizens. He said the National Rural Health Mission had agreed to fund the project.

“There are approximately 7,000 disabled persons in the area falling under the block panchayat, many of them bed ridden and badly in need of medical care and social support. Each of the seven gram panchayats will set up teams trained to reach medical assistance to the doorstep of the disabled. The home care teams will utilise the services of doctors, physiotherapists and Ayurvedic physicians. They will make periodic visits to assess the condition of the patients and record their progress. The public health centres will be upgraded and equipped for the Sampoorna project,” Mr.Vijayachandran said.

Another component of the project involves equipping day care centres to accommodate the disabled. The volunteer teams will be trained to reach food and medicine to these centres.

The block panchayat has drawn up plans to set up a resource centre for the disabled. “The land has been identified and moves are afoot to construct a building for the resource centre,” Mr.Vijayachandran said.

Another key objective of the project is to use education as a tool to bring the disabled into the mainstream of social life. As part of this, the block panchayat will take up a broad based programme, including special schooling, vocational training and distribution of wheelchairs and other aids to children and youth. The panchayat will also join hands with the parents of disabled children to form a social support system. As many as five self-help groups for the disabled are to be set up in each panchayat.

In the first phase, a dyslexia clinic would start functioning at the Nemom UPS. The facility would be extended to other schools in the block panchayat. A home school scheme has been proposed for disabled children who find it difficult to move out of their houses.

Community participation and capacity-building are key elements of the project. Parents and volunteers will be trained to recognise the special needs of the disabled and manage them. The panchayat also has plans to set up a care home for the disabled in the next phase of the project.

District panchayat president Anavoor Nagappan inaugurated the scheme at a function held at Nemom on Tuesday. Block panchayat president Kalliyoor Sreedharan was present. As many as 300 disabled persons including children participated in the function.

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