NEW DELHI: The lockdown left people with disabilities (PWDs) struggling to access basic resources with over 80 per cent of them having to borrow or request for support for food to cope with financial crisis, showed a study by CBM India, Indian Institute of Public Health Hyderabad and Humanity & Inclusion.
The study was conducted across Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Maharashtra. The sample size for the survey was 403.
For around 30 per cent of people, drinking water supplies were affected, and over 33 per cent people mentioned that their pensions were affected.
The lockdown posed major challenges for the differently-abled in accessing medicines due to travel restrictions in their region.
Over 42 per cent of them, or two out of every five people with disabilities, reported that lockdown had made it difficult for them to access routine medical care.
Around 25 per cent of people reported difficulty in getting their medications, and 28 per cent said they had to postpone their scheduled appointments because of the lockdown.
Thirty-five per cent people reported the need for out-patient services at hospitals/clinics during lockdown of whom more than half of them had difficulty in accessing them.
Among respondents with disabilities, who needed to undergo a surgical procedure, almost half of them could not get it done due to the restrictions.
As for those in need for rehabilitation services, 59.4 per cent failed to access the same, the study read.
GVS Murthy, director at IIPH Hyderabad, said, "People with disability suffered significantly more than the rest of the population in accessing health and rehabilitation care during the COVID lockdown. We need to be adequately prepared so that we do not comprise the health needs of people with disabilities as the country has committed itself to the goal of Universal Health Care as part of SDGs."