Mumbai: BMC's health centre for special children to start soon
The centre is still under construction for a year. It is getting constructed at Nagpada under the administration of BYL Nair Hospital, Mumbai Central.
The work on an early intervention centre for special children by the BMC will start soon. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had allocated funds for this new initiative to help special children. In the 2019-20 budget, while there was a mention about the ongoing work, nearly Rs 1 crore was allocated for the initiative in the civic body's budget for 2018-19.
So far, only the location for the centre has been finalised. It will take another year to complete the work.
The centre will be located in one of the civic body's buildings. It is developed in order to take special care of these children.
Dr RN Bharmal, dean of BYL Nair Hospital, said, "The centre will be located on the second, third and fourth floor of the BMC's health dispensary in Nagpada. The infrastructural work and other processes to set up the early intervention centre have already been started. We are deciding on the departments which need to be included for this centre. We are yet to get the OC for the building and it is underway."
He further added, "Besides infrastructure, we will also need some time to set up other facilities like manpower, medical equipment for the centre."
The centre will help provide rehabilitation and therapy to special children with different disabilities. It will be the first such public health initiative for children with special needs. Various clinical departments — ENT, pediatrics, psychiatry, orthopedics, speech therapy will be opened for the children.
It will treat the special children under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram which focuses on early detection and management of children's health conditions.