Cover Story
(mumbai mirror, 12-5-12)
Temple reserves a floor in its new building to treat autism and other mental disorders
Ganpati fest gift for special kids from Siddhivinayak
The all-in-one clinic will offer treatment and support at a fraction of what it costs in private hospitals in the city
Thane resident Amit Khosla's son Ishaan was diagnosed with autism when he was two and a half years old. While the family took some time to accept this difficult truth, treatment wasn't easy.
In a city where the number of children with special needs could run up to more than 5 lakhs, finding therapists for the child is difficult. Doctors suggest different therapies, each of which is conducted at a different place.
Parents such as Khosla spend around Rs 35,000 per month on various therapies. The expense on the commute is an additional Rs 15,000.
To make the treatment more affordable and convenient, the Siddhivinayak Temple Trust has now planned to set up a state-of-the-art rehabilitation centre within the premises of the Prabhadevi temple, which annually gets over Rs 70 crore in donations.
The centre, which will be launched this Ganeshotsav, will be located on the first floor of the building that stands next to the temple.
Trust officials said that the centre - which is likely to come up in September - will have experts such as a paediatric neurologist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, psychologist, ophthalmologist, orthopaedic surgeon and a dietician, all under one roof, and at a subsidised rate. Therapy sessions that normally cost around Rs 500 per hour will cost a maximum of Rs 100 at the Siddhivinayak centre.
The centre, which will work as a rehabilitation centre, will be open to children between the ages of six months and 12 years. It will provide quality care by experts to those with physical, mental, behavioural disorders as well as those with multiple disabilities.
Officials said that the trust will appoint a special coordinator for this centre who will allot time slots for each child. Each child will be provided a session of around one hour for his/her needs, the charges for which will range from Rs 50-100 depending on the parents' income. The frequency of the sessions will depend on the child's requirements.
Confirming the Shri Siddhivinayak Temple Trust's plans, its chairman Subash Mayekar said, "Our trust has always worked towards the benefit of people from poor financial backgrounds. After long discussions with various health experts we realised that there is a need to create such a facility for special children. We have heard of several families who had to discontinue treatment because it's very costly."
Mayekar added that the centre will work in two shifts of six hours each, the first starting at 8 am. The centre will also be affiliated with hospitals in case of emergencies. However, the centre will be shut on Tuesdays owing to the rush at the temple.
Among the prominent doctors already on board are Dr Anahita Udwadia-Hegde, consultant paediatric neurologist at the Wadia Children Hospital and Jaslok Hospital, Dr Sanjay Oak who is the dean of KEM hospital, Dr Shaila Weling, a consultant surgeon at Jaslok Hospital.
Besides the medical experts, the centre will also have a medical social worker who will assist the families get financial aid if they need treatment from outside the centre.
While this is not the first centre in the city where special children will be provided treatment under one roof - there are approximately 20 such centres in the city - medical professionals say that the demand is much higher than the supply. And the charges at these centres, which are run by private organizations, are also high with a minimum fee of Rs 20,000 per year for such care.
"Currently there is a shortage of medical experts who work in this field. So, parents have to run from one doctor to another. This also, hikes their expenses as such treatments are costly," says Dr Ashok Rathod, head of the department of JJ Hospital's Paediatric department.
My Take: Yet another attempt at phillanthrophy. What irks me is most reporters just put up some rubbish without checking out the facts. Whether its the costs of therapies involved or parental grieviences. There have been many such trusts who ve trie...d to 'make things easy' for parents but landed up doing nothing eventually.... the child's precious time has been wasted. Why r pvt practitioners shown as devils........ is it just because they charge for their time and expertise? Why... dont we ve homes to run too? dont we face inflation too?
(for those who take this report seriously) Please spare a thought, why will therapists slog it out if they r going to be paid meagre amounts? So first compromise will be on quality. Secondly, many of the so called medical super specialists mentioned here, ve their callender running full for next few months in their pvt practises!! (my clients face it dialy) and they r to come here??? Come on........ we must be realistic.
Dear reporters do c the other side of the coin too!!
(mumbai mirror, 12-5-12)
Temple reserves a floor in its new building to treat autism and other mental disorders
Ganpati fest gift for special kids from Siddhivinayak
The all-in-one clinic will offer treatment and support at a fraction of what it costs in private hospitals in the city
Thane resident Amit Khosla's son Ishaan was diagnosed with autism when he was two and a half years old. While the family took some time to accept this difficult truth, treatment wasn't easy.
In a city where the number of children with special needs could run up to more than 5 lakhs, finding therapists for the child is difficult. Doctors suggest different therapies, each of which is conducted at a different place.
Parents such as Khosla spend around Rs 35,000 per month on various therapies. The expense on the commute is an additional Rs 15,000.
To make the treatment more affordable and convenient, the Siddhivinayak Temple Trust has now planned to set up a state-of-the-art rehabilitation centre within the premises of the Prabhadevi temple, which annually gets over Rs 70 crore in donations.
The centre, which will be launched this Ganeshotsav, will be located on the first floor of the building that stands next to the temple.
Trust officials said that the centre - which is likely to come up in September - will have experts such as a paediatric neurologist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, psychologist, ophthalmologist, orthopaedic surgeon and a dietician, all under one roof, and at a subsidised rate. Therapy sessions that normally cost around Rs 500 per hour will cost a maximum of Rs 100 at the Siddhivinayak centre.
The centre, which will work as a rehabilitation centre, will be open to children between the ages of six months and 12 years. It will provide quality care by experts to those with physical, mental, behavioural disorders as well as those with multiple disabilities.
Officials said that the trust will appoint a special coordinator for this centre who will allot time slots for each child. Each child will be provided a session of around one hour for his/her needs, the charges for which will range from Rs 50-100 depending on the parents' income. The frequency of the sessions will depend on the child's requirements.
Confirming the Shri Siddhivinayak Temple Trust's plans, its chairman Subash Mayekar said, "Our trust has always worked towards the benefit of people from poor financial backgrounds. After long discussions with various health experts we realised that there is a need to create such a facility for special children. We have heard of several families who had to discontinue treatment because it's very costly."
Mayekar added that the centre will work in two shifts of six hours each, the first starting at 8 am. The centre will also be affiliated with hospitals in case of emergencies. However, the centre will be shut on Tuesdays owing to the rush at the temple.
Among the prominent doctors already on board are Dr Anahita Udwadia-Hegde, consultant paediatric neurologist at the Wadia Children Hospital and Jaslok Hospital, Dr Sanjay Oak who is the dean of KEM hospital, Dr Shaila Weling, a consultant surgeon at Jaslok Hospital.
Besides the medical experts, the centre will also have a medical social worker who will assist the families get financial aid if they need treatment from outside the centre.
While this is not the first centre in the city where special children will be provided treatment under one roof - there are approximately 20 such centres in the city - medical professionals say that the demand is much higher than the supply. And the charges at these centres, which are run by private organizations, are also high with a minimum fee of Rs 20,000 per year for such care.
"Currently there is a shortage of medical experts who work in this field. So, parents have to run from one doctor to another. This also, hikes their expenses as such treatments are costly," says Dr Ashok Rathod, head of the department of JJ Hospital's Paediatric department.
My Take: Yet another attempt at phillanthrophy. What irks me is most reporters just put up some rubbish without checking out the facts. Whether its the costs of therapies involved or parental grieviences. There have been many such trusts who ve trie...d to 'make things easy' for parents but landed up doing nothing eventually.... the child's precious time has been wasted. Why r pvt practitioners shown as devils........ is it just because they charge for their time and expertise? Why... dont we ve homes to run too? dont we face inflation too?
(for those who take this report seriously) Please spare a thought, why will therapists slog it out if they r going to be paid meagre amounts? So first compromise will be on quality. Secondly, many of the so called medical super specialists mentioned here, ve their callender running full for next few months in their pvt practises!! (my clients face it dialy) and they r to come here??? Come on........ we must be realistic.
Dear reporters do c the other side of the coin too!!
No comments:
Post a Comment