About 900 residents of the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) are getting disability identity cards. The work on registering the patients with the State government and getting them the Centre’s Unique Disability ID (UDID) have taken off.
IMH, along with the District Differently Abled Welfare Office, has launched steps to issue disability certificates and register them for the Government of India UDID cards.
“For the first time, we have initiated the process to get ID for every individual at IMH. There are many patients who come in as wandering mentally ill, with no relations and on reception orders. Many with intellectual disabilities do not know their names and addresses. So, once we get them disability IDs, we can get them Aadhaar cards as the next step. This will help them get benefits under government schemes once they improve and get discharged,” said P. Poorna Chandrika, director of IMH.
As part of this initiative, a medical camp to assess the disability and percentage of disability was organised on IMH campus. Residents of ward number eight were covered in the camp on the first day.
For now, IMH would be the guardian or nominated representative in the address for the ID card, she added.
“We are covering patients engaged in housekeeping and security services with Krystal, the outsourced agency, to handle their bank accounts,” she added.
In future, if any patient remembers his or her identity, it can be changed accordingly. Already, this registration for disability ID card was being done regularly for patients who come to IMH outpatient department with attenders.
Officials said this would give the patients the identity of persons with disabilities and they would be entitled to government schemes based on the disability certificate. The degree of disability — mild, moderate and severe — would be assessed.
“All these persons are residents of IMH. We have a specific format for the disability certificate and we are filling in the details from each patient’s file,” an official said.
A doctor would assess if a person has mental illness or intellectual disability with mental illness at the camp. The type of disability and percentage of disability would be assessed and the doctor would attest the certificate.
As the next step, they would be registered.
Officials said for Aadhaar enrolment, iris and fingerprints are captured but there were exemptions for persons with disabilities.
