All medical colleges in the State will be equipped to detect disabilities in children in the foetal stage itself, R. Bindu, Minister for Higher Education and Social Justice, has said.
She was speaking after flagging off Rehab Express to provide therapy to differently abled persons at their locality at a function held on the National Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (NIPMR) campus on Friday. The NIPMR has launched the Rehab Express in association with the Social Security Mission.
“The government’s aim is to make Kerala the best differently abled friendly State in the country,” she said, adding that the government would strive to overcome the limitations in providing services to the differently abled at their locality.
Low-floor AC bus
A low-floor AC bus of the KSRTC has been converted as Rehab Express. It has facilities for physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and prosthetic assessment. The services of an expert team, comprising doctors and therapists, will be available at the Rehab Express.
The Rehab Express will visit areas where facilities for therapy are not available. If the patients in an area require repeated therapy, it will visit those areas in a pre-fixed schedule.
Free service
NIPMR executive director C. Chandra Babu said the NIPMR would provide free services through Rehab Express if the local self-governments and non-government organisations facilitated such visits.
The services of Rehab Express will be provided in association with the local self-government bodies, Health department, and Social Security Mission. It has facilities for prosthetic assessment if a local self-government body has plans to provide assistive devices for differently abled persons. Besides, the Rehab Express has facilities for assessing the growth of children at the anganwadi level. It also has facilities for assessing cerebral palsy, autism, and Down syndrome found in children.
