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Drop-in centre for the poor opened at Shishu Sarothi

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 18 - Though early intervention is highly recommended for children with disability, it is the cost of stay in a city like Guwahati that comes in the way of the parents from remote areas, seeking treatment for their children with such special condition.

To address the issue and facilitating early intervention in a better way for the children coming from far-flung areas of the Northeast, Shishu Sarothi has come up with a drop-in centre on its premises, for the families belonging to financially weaker sections of society.

The centre that works in close coordination with the early intervention centres, would make the treatment almost free of cost for the needy people. The families can avail the accommodation for two to five days, at a very nominal cost, and the stay is even made totally free depending on the condition of the family.

Early intervention is a range of services designed to intervene at the early stages of an infant or toddlers who have developmental impediments or disabilities and the families who care for them. There has always been a myth and a misunderstanding about disability among people where they fail to comprehend that it is a condition rather than a disease.

�We have been providing early intervention services for about 20 years to high-risk babies. Shishu Sarothi has also been operating an early intervention unit at the Composite Regional Centre (CRC) under the Department of Disability, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) since 2015 in a tie-up with the Paediatrics Department of the Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH), which also provides early intervention services to children who come to the facility from all over the State,� said Arman Ali, executive director, Shishu Sarothi.

Construction of the drop-in centre has been supported by Shubham Planners, who have helped in setting up the building for the people to stay during their visit to Shishu Sarothi.

�The first family to drop in at this centre is from a remote village called Matiparvat in Sualkuchi. The child has been diagnosed with Tubercular Meningoencephalitis, with weakness on his right side (Hemiparesis),� Dhanjit Kalita, a physiotherapist at Shishu Sarothi said. With these services rendered to the child by the early intervention centre, the families grow to be informed about the child�s proper care and in addition to this it helps to build the capacity of parents on how to work with the child and put focus on his/her overall growth and other fundamental needs rather than disability.

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