Only 73,148 of 1.85 lakh disabled persons have certificates

Neena Sharma

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 14

Obtaining a certificate of disability continues to be a problem in the far-off districts of the state, where Primary Health Centres lack specialised services of a clinical psychologist, a psychiatrist and an ENT specialist. Twenty-nine-year-old Mangat Ram has problem in producing coherent speech and has been suffering from mild mental retardation since childhood. Though the disability has been recognised by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Mangat Ram, a resident of Bageshwar, has been unable to procure a disability certificate to avail benefits from the state and the Centre.

“Several path-breaking initiatives announced by the government will continue to elude disabled if certificates are not provided to them. These serve as a proof of identity,” said Anuradha Dalmia, Director, NIVH.

The state’s track record in disbursing disability certificates continues to be dismal. According to the 2011 Census, the state has been able to cover only 39.48 per cent of the population. In Uttarakhand, there are a total of 1,85,272 disabled persons, of which only 73,148 have been issued the disability certificate.

“A disability certificate is a basic document with the help of which individuals can get access to government services and stand up to any kind of discrimination by lodging a complaint,” said Dr RP Bhatt DG (Health).

Significantly, the Central Government had simplified procedure for issuing disability certificate in view of the problems faced in Uttarakhand.

In 2011, an MBBS doctor was empowered to issue certificates instead of a team of specialists.

However, it did not help much as MBBS doctors refrained from issuing certificates saying they were not competent enough to certify a person’s mental health or other disability.

Now, the government has approached the Centre to send a team of experts to the state, so that they could visit places where the camps are held and issue certificates on the spot.