At a function held to release the booklet on the proceedings of last year’s conference on Early Intervention in Mental Retardation on 25 August 2005, the work of Madhuram Narayanan Centre (MNC) was lauded by the speakers.
Released by N Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu, the booklet is a compilation of the abstracts of presentations made by resource persons at the conference organised by MNC in December last year. It also contains the recommendations made during the conference, key among them, being the need to strengthen antenatal and perinatal health services in the government sector, networking with all stakeholders to disseminate information on prevention of disabilities and provide the option of genetic testing for high-risk babies.
Handing over the first copy to K S Narayanan, Chairman, Board of Directors, MNC, Ram said the Centre led by the team, including Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) V Krishnaswamy, its Director, Jaya Krishnaswamy and Prof Jeyachandran had done excellent work among children with mental retardation. He also suggested that the Centre consider providing training to journalists in order
to enable them to deliver real life stories in a humane way.
Speaking on the occasion, N Sankar, Chairman, The Sanmar Group, said the Centre set up in memory of his mother, Madhuram Narayanan, recognised the key involvement of parents in the intervention process. He added that the future challenge for the Centre would be in the area of human resources, the task of finding people to carry on the work done by committed people.
V Krishnaswamy presented an overview of the conference held last year while N Kumar, Vice Chairman, The Sanmar Group, recalled the early days of the Centre.