Reality Bites of Medical Council of India : Yet waiting for Disbled Freindly Environment !

Disabled medicos face hurdles

Source : Deccan Herald , 11th June 2013 

 Infra facilities not available at medical colleges

“Is any medical institution in the country capable of inviting the famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking to deliver a lecture,” asks Dr Satendra Singh, coordinator of enabling unit of UCMC.

This one question highlights the condition of medical institutions and hospitals when it comes to providing barrier-free access to the disabled.

Singh says physical barriers such as inaccessible libraries, lecture halls and hospital campus dissuade people with disabilities from taking admission in colleges despite reservations for them.

He had petitioned the office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) to provide accessible environment to the disabled in medical institutions. The CCPD had to forward it twice to the Medical Council of India before it asked the colleges to submit a compliance report in this regard.

But Singh wants the MCI to make it mandatory for colleges to provide accessible institutions. “The action taken by them is mere eyewash,” says Singh. But it has done enough to encourage him to continue petitioning the authorities to make it mandatory.

Those fighting alongside Singh, or for this cause, say their suggestions are often shelved for long and when they are implemented, there is much lacking.

“We conducted accessibility audits for all Delhi University colleges in 2007-08. We had given our reports and suggestions with drawings and illustrations to make campuses disabled-friendly. But the managements neither take a look at the audits nor do they consider them,” says Anjlee Agarwal, executive director of NGO Samarthyam.

The NGO evaluates, develops, and promotes accessible and universal design in buildings and outdoor environments.

“Just having a ramp, but no access to toilets or libraries, will still continue to dissuade people from taking admissions. Every service that others have access to must be made available for the disabled,” adds Anjlee.

Few little successes keep Singh petitioning still. His efforts have seen the installation of two disabled-friendly ATMs in Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. Differently-abled students at UCMC now get a leniency time of 15 minutes to reach.





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Hope in India as Mandatory Access For People with Disability Takes Shape : New Delhi 

Source : India America Today , 8th June 2013 

 

In the developed countries, it is taken for granted that there is universal access for the disabled and physically challenged person, but not so in developing countries, so it was hailed as historic when the Medical Council of India (MCI) recently asked all medical institutions in India to be disabled-friendly and submit a compliance report as soon as possible.

Accessibility of health care facilities to persons with disabilities is abysmally low in India because of architectural barriers, lack of ICT facilities and attitudinal barriers. Even medical students, paramedics, non-teaching employees and faculty with disabilities face numerous barriers in medical institutions. This should change if there is early and proper implementation of the MCI-issued directive to the deans and principals of all the medical colleges and institutions in India to promptly submit a compliance report on accessible institutions to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Welcoming the directive, disability activist Satendra Singh, a medical specialist at University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) in Delhi who is himself disabled, said, “This is a significant move, as medical institutions are made more accountable, which is in line with Sec 46 of PWD Act 1995 and article 9 of the International law UNCRPD, which makes it obligatory for India to implement reasonable accommodation. This is not something only for disabled because a universally designed ramp or toilet will help all, be it disabled, elderly person, or pregnant female."

Singh had relentlessly advocated to the chief commissioner for persons with disabilities (CCPD) to pass directions to MCI to make access audits mandatory in all medical inspections; to include persons with disabilities in all disability matters; and to de-recognize all such colleges which fail accessibility standards. The CCPD, under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, is the highest apex body in India, with the power of a civil court and pan-India jurisdiction.

"To me this should have been done long ago and without anybody fighting for it. What Dr. Satendra Singh is doing is not only praiseworthy and commendable but also a path-breaking move in the establishment of universal design," said Abha Khetrapal, counselor for the students with disabilities at the University College of Medical Sciences, (UCMS) and GTB Hospital in Delhi.

Singh is the coordinator of the Enabling Unit, which he created under the UGC (University Grants Commission) guidelines for ensuring affirmative actions concerning persons with disabilities. This is the only such body in any medical school in India. Singh also formed an Equality and Diversity Committee, which has student, non-teaching staff and faculty members and all are persons with disabilities, in line with the mantra "Nothing for us, without us."

Khetrapal, who is a non-institutional expert on the committee, said, "The formation of Equality and Diversity Committee needs to be used as a model not only by the medical colleges, but by all the institutions providing higher education, as separate counselors for students with disabilities may not be found even in many renowned universities of the country. Moreover, all the members of this committee are persons with disabilities and they can represent themselves better than the non-disabled people."

Khetrapal urged MCI to take urgent action for the speedy implementation of the directive, saying, "I now hope that the new chairman of MCI, Dr. R.K. Srivastava, brings the required and desired changes. Another move that has to be done is to include disability studies as a subject in medical education."

Mincing no words, Khetrapal who is the founder and president of Cross the Hurdles (www.crossthehurdles.org/ngo), an organization fighting on behalf of the disabled, said, "It is an irony that those who are getting trained to be the health providers of the community have to suffer due to such an inaccessibility. I wonder why does MCI have to be directed by the CCPD office? Why couldn't Medical Council of India issue such a directive itself? Why do we have to wake up the authorities from such a deep slumber to at least give us what our rights are?"