MNC@Ramnad

Following a UNICEF supported project, sponsored by the Network for Information on Parenting (NIP) and executed by MNC, the Centre conducted a five-day disability camp in Chennai for 30 children with multiple disabilities from the district of Ramnad, Tamil Nadu ,requiring immediate and inevitable medical and educational interventions from the 29th of October to the 2nd of November, 2001. This population of disabled children and their “high risk” mothers were examined. Most children [of those examined] showed manifestations of orthopedic disability and visual hearing impairments, besides having health conditions related to moderate to severe malnutrition. It was seen that the main cause for the large number of disabled children in that particular area was the lack of timely antenatal care of pregnant mothers, inaccessibility to well equipped hospitals and clinics for delivery and severe malnutrition in mothers during pregnancy.

Over 16 specialists from different disciplines attended the camp giving the required consultations and rehabilitative treatment to the children. At the end of the camp, the identified children/mothers who were given the required immediate and inevitable early intervention were tracked at Ramnad for further follow ups. Three of the children who had the birth defect of cleft palate and hare lip had been surgically treated totally free of cost thanks to the SMILE project at Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Hospital, Porur, Chennai. This set the ball rolling for over 70 others who with the efficient planning at the Collectorate , Ramnad who also benefited from the corrective surgery at the hospital mentioned earlier.