Training at primary level needed to identify disability properly
Primary-level [upazilas] healthcare workers and doctors need to be trained to identify disability properly, to ensure better health services, said speakers at a workshop yesterday.
They also said differently-abled people should be given priority in healthcare.
Non-Communicable Disease Control (NCDC) Programme, Disabled Rehabilitation and Research Association (DRRA) and Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) jointly organised the workshop at Brac Centre in Dhaka.
Presenting the keynote speech, Dr Khaleda Islam, former director (Primary Health Centre) of DGHS, said, “Primary healthcare system needs to be strong to identify the problem of disability.”
To identify disabled people properly, it is important to train healthcare workers at the community level, she said, so that they can primarily detect disabled individuals, refer them to upazila doctors to specify the disability, and subsequently the doctors can send them to a specialised institution for better treatment.
Giving various definitions of disability, Rifat Shahpar Khan, independent consultant and director, Creative Pathways, said that according to WHO, 15 percent of the global population are disabled, and the issue needs to be addressed properly.
She also emphasised on talking to the disabled person directly instead of talking to his or her aide. “Or else, they will feel neglected,” she added.
Farida Yesmin, executive director of DRRA, said there are different types of disabilities and they need to be treated differently by specialised doctors.
Sometimes, disabled people are unsure of where to get treatment and therefore, they move from one healthcare centre to another without knowing where to find proper treatment, which costs them a lot, she alleged.
If community clinic workers are trained, they would know where disabled patients should be referred to, she said.
Dr Abul Kalam Azad, DG of DGHS, said the government is working to ensure proper healthcare facilities for differently-abled people and is trying its best to address the issue.
Prof AHM Enayet Hussain, ADG (P and D) of DGHS also spoke at the workshop.
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