BHUBANESWAR : Anusia Patra, a 23-year-old resident of Samantrapur, is 90 per cent intellectually disabled with high support needs. When the vaccination for 18+ age group began, her father M Panchanan Patra managed to book a slot for her at a health centre near their house.
However, after arriving at the vaccination centre, Panchanan and his wife Sunita - both in their 50s - had to physically carry their daughter inside the facility to get the jab. There was no wheelchair or volunteer to help the couple in carrying her inside.
Anusia was fortunate to get the first dose albeit with the immense hardship that she and her parents had to face. “She is obese, can’t speak or stand at one place. We had to request people standing in the vaccination queue and the officials present there to allow our daughter to get the jab first”, said Panchanan who is the vice-president of Parents Association for Mentally Retarded Children, Odisha.
His association has around 60 members in Bhubaneswar whose children are adults with high support needs and only two to three of them have taken the first dose of vaccine. Parents of the rest do not want to risk taking them to the vaccination centres in absence of any special facilities for them. .A section of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) including those visually-challenged and deaf have managed to take the jab at urban health centres but a large section of people with permanent physical impairment and intellectual disabilities besides, bed-ridden patients remain out of the vaccination ambit in absence of logistics and support system. Although PwDs have not been deprived of the vaccine, access is a real hurdle. Besides, there is no segregation of data as to how many PwDs have been vaccinated in the State so far
Access hurdle for PwDs
Soubhagini Sahoo’s daughter Rashmirekha (38) suffers from Down’s Syndrome but she managed to take her to a vaccination centre only to return after seeing the crowd. “My daughter got violent seeing the gathering. It is sad that the government has failed to take into consideration special needs of all persons with disabilities while framing vaccination guidelines. In the current Covid scenario, vaccine is a fundamental right of a PwD and other such people. If this is the scenario at Bhubaneswar, one can well imagine the plight of PwDs in other districts”, she said.
Disability rights activist Dr Sruti Mohapatra, who has written to the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) Minister Ashok Panda and other officials of the department requesting priority vaccination for the disabled in Odisha, said the situation at grassroots is extremely worrying.
There is no awareness drive or special facilities, queues to inoculate PwDs, she says. “Studies have shown that PwDs are three times more likely to get infected or die of Covid-19 than the general population. They experience higher risk of contracting the virus as they require to remain in close contact with others for personal care needs. And if infected, recovering is a challenge”, she said, adding that priority access to vaccines would reduce infection and death.
Sanyas Behera, Odisha’s first blind OAS officer, said the biggest impediment PwDs face is inability to register for vaccination. PwDs with 100 pc blindness, development and intellectual disability and those without digital literacy cannot book a slot themselves. “If there is a dedicated helpline like a toll free number, the blind persons or caretakers of mentally-challenged persons can easily book a slot”, he said.
Need for special drive
Activists suggest that home administration of vaccines can be done to cover PwDs and those bed-ridden or special arrangements made for pick up-drop services if they have to get vaccinated at designated centres. In General Election in 2019, all eligible PwD voters were identified and vehicles arranged to ferry them to polling booths to facilitate voting. “Why can’t similar measures be taken now to vaccinate them,” they ask.
Secretary of SSEPD department Bhaskar Sharma said PwDs are being given priority at vaccination centres. “Nowhere are they made to wait, be it in Bhubaneswar or in other places”, he said, while adding that it is the Health department which can take a call on launching a special drive for vaccination of PwDs. However, sources in the Health department said the vaccines come in 20 dose vials and the cold chain needs to be maintained which is why it is not possible to administer vaccines at home.