A mobile therapy unit for differently-abled children in the 0-6 age group in rural areas was inaugurated by the Vellore District Collector R. Nanthagopal at the weekly public grievances redressal day camp at the Collectorate here on Monday. Such units were sanctioned for all districts by the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa recently.
Mr. Nanthagopal said that the unit housed in a Tempo Traveller vehicle is permanently equipped with facilities for early diagnosis of disability among the children in the 0-6 age group in the rural areas. The facilities include providing physiotherapy to the orthopaedically challenged children in the 0-6 age group in rural areas, and equipment for hearing assessment among the children. The unit also has publicity material about the welfare schemes implemented by the government for the differently-abled. The unit has been sanctioned by the government with the objective of treating and curing disability among children through early diagnosis, he said.
The Collector said that during the periodic disability camps to be conducted in the villages, the unit would provide physiotherapy to the orthopaedically challenged children, check the growth levels of the children and provide appropriate counselling to the parents. Arrangements have also been made to provide counselling to the parents on handling their differently-abled children, he said.
Joseph Ravi, District Differently-Abled Rehabilitation Officer said that as a pilot project, the mobile therapy unit would be taken to and stationed in a village on a particular day, and the parents of differently-abled children in that village and nearby four or five villages would be asked to bring their children to the unit for disability assessment, treatment and counselling. Different groups of villages would be covered in subsequent camps.
The unit would also be stationed at the venues of the mass contact programmes in the villages and the weekly public grievances redressal day camps in the Collectorate, he said.
