According
to a Baseline Survey commissioned by Impact at the commencement
of the CHI, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, a
leading social research agency, reported the following:
"The percentage of population with specified is
5.5, which is very high when compared to the proportion
of disabled in rural Maharashtra State. (1.8%).
The
distribution of disabled according to the type of
their disability shows that a majority of them have
Orthopaedic (37%), closely followed by Hearing (32.8%)
and Vision (28.4%) disabilities. A few (0.6%) of them
have Cleft lips. 2.9 percent of them have more than
one disability.
Identification
:
Through
the local State Health machinery, such as Anganwadi
(crèche) workers, Accredited Social Health
Activists (ASHAs), and Impact's own Field Workers
disabled patients are identified, clinically screened
at camps and treated. Impact has created partnerships
with several Referral Hospitals in the area for free-of-cost
surgeries to the rural poor.
