REDUCTION OF NEURO MORBIDITY IN CHILDREN SHOULD BE A PRIORITY
- SHATRUGHAN SINHA
Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Shri
Shatrughan Sinha has said that chronic childhood neurological
diseases and disabilities need to be prevented, diagnosed treated
and rehabilitated early. The clinical expression of neurological
diseases in children is more complex than in adults. Morbidity
pattern indicates that neurological illnesses like infections,
seizures, mental and developmental handicaps, congenital malformations
comprise almost 25 percent of chronic problems of childhood. Shri
Sinha was speaking on the occasion of inaugural function of SAARC
Meeting on Reduction of Childhood Neuro Morbidity, yesterday.
Shri Shatrughan Sinha said that increased people
to people contact in the SAARC region can provide very positive
contribution, strengthen mutual understanding, good will and upgrade
human resources and skills. Introduction of a SAARC Chair and
SAARC Fellowships of varying duration could provide greater and
sustained interaction among the professionals of the region.
The Minister stated that this meeting has proposed
to introduce a unique concept of multidisciplinary advocacy on
epilepsy, cerebral palsy and developmental disabilities. Through
this meeting, it is expected to bring together patients and their
families, medical personnel, the non-government organizations
and the social support systems to deliberate jointly on the issues
pertaining to a wholesome delivery of health care to the afflicted
child. Legal issues and rights of such children will also be discussed
so as to empower the parents with information about the provisions
by the Government. The Minister hoped that through this kind of
a model more useful ideas would be generated for better and holistic
care of the children.
The Minister said that the database on the
frequency of chronic neurological problems in children of the
SAARC region is not available. There is a great need to generate
the database which would guide the health policy makers of the
region. Dr. N.K. Ganguly, Dr. S.P. Agarwal, Prof. Dave and other
also spoke on the occasion.
