M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, March 29: Preparation of UDID (Unique Disability ID) card has almost taken the wind out of the sail of the empanelled doctors who are to certify the quantum of the disability or the disabilities.
Sources said disability is now a visa for gaining governmental benefits and as such there are pull and pressure for the unique disability ID card too.
A temporary impairment in road accidents is being pressed to be termed as a disability that is recoverable.
The empanelled doctors are drawn from ortho, eye, ENT, mental illness etc are expected to be computer savvy as they are to perform everything online from assessing the disability down to its certification.
Under the condition of anonymity, a government doctor said, “We are meant to write a prescription for illness or disorder or deformity which we see but to do it on the computer screen we have never thought of.”
However, this doctor further said, “We are doing the work but one should not keep the calendar before us or the table timepiece to get it done within the stipulated period.”
There should be some computer knowing reliable persons attached to the board of the doctors who do not play mischief with the data collected by assessment of the disability of the person afflicted.
Accountability of the empanelled doctors has now been an established thing and no doctor can afford to get away in the event of any disability coming into question.
Palamu district has received 1,659 applications online from persons with disability (PwD) in three weeks, according to one health office functionary Aman under the directive of Palamu civil surgeon Dr Anil Kumar.
An assessment of 1,228 applications has been done but only 40 UDID has been generated.
On the other hand, the Garhwa district is making steady headway, according to its civil surgeon Dr Kamlesh Kumar.
“We got 680 online applications from the PwD. 111 UDID have been generated while the remaining ones are underway,” said Garhwa CS.
Palamu and Garhwa districts are locally managing their board of doctors. Garhwa CS Dr Kamlesh Kumar said as there is no psychiatrist in his district, he has taken the services of Dr Ashish Kumar, psychiatrist of the MMCH Daltonganj.
Latehar district has to exert more for its board of doctors as here there is neither any ophthalmologist nor any ENT specialist. There is also no psychiatrist in Latehar.
Latehar Civil surgeon Dr Haren Chandra Mahto said, “We have to borrow the services of the specialists of the ENT and ortho from the MMCH Daltonganj, eye specialist from Gumla and psychiatrist from RINPAS.”
Ved Prakash, a health official of Latehar, said that two doctors Subhash Kumar and Awadesh Singh of ENT and Ortho respectively were deputed here from the MMCH Daltonganj.
“We got one ophthalmologist in Dr P N Bara from Gumla. RINPAS sent us one psychiatrist, Dr Amit Kumar,” he added.
784 PwD applied online for the UDID in Latehar. Out of these 509 were registered online for the assessment.
“172 PwD UDID have been generated,” said Ved Prakash.
