Country's 1st DRC opened in Shillong

SHILLONG, March 17: India's first District Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) for extending ability aid and other help to the physically disabled was inaugurated by the Meghalaya Chief Minister, EK Mawlong, at the Shillong Civil Hospital here yesterday. Observing that the biggest challenge in the effort to provide rehabilitation services to those in need was inaccessibility, Mawlong said, "About 99 per cent of the physically-challenged section of society, numbering 15 million, live in the rural, semi-rural and small towns," Mawlong said. Taking into account this fact, Mawlong added, the policy planners and experts in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment of the Government of India, under the national programme of Rashtriya Gramin Purnavas Yojana have attempted to provide assistance in infrastructure and to identify persons with disabilities in order to underscore on efforts for prevention, detection and early intervention. He said that the DRC in Shillong would have the technical support and financial assistance from the Central Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment through the National Institute of Orthopaedically Handicapped (NIOH) for a few years. He also said that the state government was taking several steps to improve the functioning of the Shillong Civil Hospital and to make it one of the best in the country. Earlier, in his speech, the NIOH Deputy Director and Nodal Officer, B N Dutta said that the number of disabled persons in Meghalaya is 35,500 out of a population of over 17 lakh (1991), and that the number of such cases in the Northeastern region including Sikkim is 6,30,980 with a density of 9.47 per square km. For Meghalaya, the density is 0.63. He also said that the Government of India in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has taken up 100 districts for the setting up of DRCs. In addition, he said there will be seven Composite Rehabilitation Centre of which one would be in the Northeast. Besides the unveiling of the DRC plaque, the Chief Minister also inaugurated the Ability Aid Production. The programme also included the distribution of ability aid to the physically handicapped. Earlier, the handicapped children from Mary Rice Institute rendered the opening song.