S Vijayakumar, IAS, District Collector, presiding over the wrap up camp of the Nutrition and Child Care Practices Programme. Seated second from right is Mrs Jaya Krishnaswamy, Project Co-ordinator.
One of the highlights of the project on Nutrition and Child Practices, executed by the Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children (MNC) during 2001–2002 was a five day camp at
Chennai for 30 children from Ramanathapuram district—a backward district of Tamil Nadu—where poverty is rampant and disabilities, particularly among children of six years and below, are widespread.
The best of medical specialists and other professionals spent valuable time with the children with multiple disabilities, and counselled their parents on the care and management of their disabilities. Malnutrition being the underlying cause, the thrust of the project was in creating an awareness among the adult population, of the right nutrition practices using available resources that would be most beneficial to their children.
While a March 2003 review of the activity-oriented interventions provided to these people revealed that an awareness had been created successfully, the parents wanted MNC to provide more services to enable their children to go to school. They also
recognised and detected disabilities in other children in their locality and brought them to the review camp seeking counsel.
Three children, sponsored by MNC, brought to Chennai for free corrective surgery at the SMILE project of the Sri Ramachandra Medical College, became the first of 70 children needing similar surgery. The Collector of Ramanathapuram District made arrangements for these children to be brought to Chennai for this purpose.
Prevention of disabilities is now the area towards which MNC is gearing its movement. Nearly 70% of disabilities are preventable. If prevention becomes a reality then the resources available for rehabilitation can be utilised more optimally for the other 30%, especially those born with disabilities.