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From: Nilesh Singit's Blog: Disability News Wolrdwide
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Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2011 11:14 AM
Subject: [New post] All hosps in state to test babies for disabilities?
All hosps in state to test babies for disabilities?
Nilesh Singit | March 19, 2011 at 11:14 | Tags: UNCRPD | Categories:
Advocacy, Disability, Disability Studies, Health, Public Interest Litigation |
URL: http://wp.me/pyosb-gN
Mumbai: Every baby born in a hospital across the state will be tested for
disabilities if the state government and the Bombay high court have their way.
Maharashtra advocate general Ravi Kadam informed a division bench of Chief
Justice Mohit Shah and Justice S J Vazifdar on Friday that the state would
issue instructions to all hospitals about screening new-born babies. Every
hospital-—public as well as private-—will have to conduct the tests on the
baby. Data about the test
results would be maintained by the government to indicate the incidence of
disabilities. The instructions would be issued in the form of a circular by
April 13, said the high court. The assurance came during a special hearing of
a bunch of petitions relating to the issues faced by people with
disabilities.—including reservation in government jobs, allocation of Mhada
houses and guidelines for writers for disabled students during examinations.
“Screening tests would help identify visual, auditory and motor disabilities in
new-born babies and would aid early medical intervention,” said Dr Bhushan
Punani of the Blind People’s Association. Move to enable new-borns welcomed
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government’s proposal to screen all new-borns at
hospitals came in the Bombay high court during a hearing of a petition on
issues faced by the disabled—including reservation in government jobs,
allocation of Mhada houses and guidelines for writers for disabled students
during examinations.
Activists welcomed the broad sweep of the rule that seeks to include every big
and small hospital across the state. “If the rules are implemented effectively,
the major beneficiaries would be babies born in rural hospitals, who otherwise
would have had no access to such tests,'' said advocate Kanchan Pamnani.
The court has also focused its attention on the reported absence of medical
problems of the disabled in the MBBS syllabus. “When a parent takes a disabled
child to the doctor, except for ordering a slew of tests there is no proper
diagnosis of what ails the kid,” said an activist. Advocate Uday Warunjikar,
counsel for one of the petitioners, said that teaching and sensitizing would-be
doctors would not only help children with disabilities but also make the
medical practitioners careful while issuing disability certificates. The high
court has asked that notices be issued to the Medical Council of India so that
it can respond to the issue.
Dr Y Amdekar, dean of Wadia Children’s Hospital, said that a clinical screening
of children is conducted at birth. “At birth, doctors may be able to say that
an organ is in place but how well it works may be known only after a few weeks.
Hence, a new-born screening that includes a blood test is useful. A free blood
test to screen for serious disorders that could result in mental retardation is
being offered in Goa.’’ Dr Amdekar, added that matters of cost and
accessibility need to be looked into.
Meanwhile, the high court has asked the state and the committee appointed by it
to identify gadgets, devices and software to be provided to its visually
challenged employees. The judges have also directed the state to submit a list
of the number of posts that could be made available for the disabled under the
3% reservation policy if it was required to have been calculated from February
1996. This was the date when the Persons with Disabilities Act came into force.
In a related development, the high court has told the state to issue uniform
guidelines for writers who are used by visually challenged students during
examinations.
Shibu Thomas TNN With inputs from Malathy Iyer)
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