Initially by word of mouth publicity, nodal officers of District Early Intervention Centre (DEIC) from neighbouring districts like Kodagu, Chikkamagalur, Hassan and others visited Dakshina Kannada DEIC in district Wenlock hospital to have a first-hand experience of the centre’s best practices.
The centre’s unconventional initiatives aimed at minimising disabilities among children from birth up to 18 years had drawn praise from all and sundry at a high-level officials meeting held in Bengaluru in July this year.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy while felicitating DK DEIC’s Nodal Officer Dr U V Shenoy in Bengaluru, declared that the DEIC was the best centre in state and is the official acknowledgement of the centre’s interventions.
“This is the first time a government institution is being recognised at a state-level programme organised to mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities,” said Wenlock Hospital Superintendent Dr Rajeshwari Devi H R.
Nearly 4,000 children were benefitted by the centre, set up under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) and inaugurated in April 2016 by then Health Minister U T Khader, Devi added.
DEIC Nodal Officer and senior pediatrician Dr Shenoy said they screened children to identify diseases, deficiencies, disability and developmental delays.
The screening is carried with the objective that early detection and early intervention will minimise disabilities among growing children. Most of the patients had been referred to the centre by RBSK doctors serving in rural areas (nearly 96.9% in 2018), Dr Shenoy said.
A team of experts undertake a detailed assessment even performing surgeries in cases requiring surgical intervention to minimise disabilities. The centre also corrects Retinopathy of prematurity (an eye disease seen in premature babies) and clubfoot with non-surgical treatments. Of the 31 patients who had registered, two patients had received cochlear implant (worth Rs eight lakh). The Haemophilia, Thalassaemia and sickle clinics had provided relief to many poverty-stricken families.
“A health consultant from New Delhi was surprised when informed that the centre was operational with a mere budget of Rs 17 lakh,’’ Dr Shenoy said with a smile.
The publication of an education booklet for parents, mobile therapy units, integration with other departments like AYUSH had helped the centre emerge as unique among all the DEICs in the state.
“The limitations we face can be resolved when we work together,” he said and added how Homeopathy offers a cure to hyper active children.
To ensure fewer children have handicaps, the centre conducts workshops for Anganwadi volunteers, teachers, nutritional education to mothers at Lady Goschen Hospital.
Dr Shenoy’s future plans includes setting up adolescent medicine, reducing `mutism’ (inability to speak due to deafness) and establishing therapy centre in all taluk headquarters. “Such therapy centres will prevent people from travelling all the way to Mangaluru for treatment,” he said.
