Intellectuals and insiders have slammed the concerned authorities for not taking interest in fulfilling the SVNIRTAR’s primary objective of manpower development in the rehabilitation fields of Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Prosthetics-Orthotics.
The above mentioned three departments are the main wings of the Swami Vivekananda National Institute Rehabilitation, Training and Research (SVNIRTAR), which run under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. About 90 per cent of the patients coming to the institute depend on these three departments for their problems related to locomotion and rest 10 per cent patients require surgical interventions followed by the rehabilitation processes by the Physiotherapists, Occupational therapists, Orthotists and Prosthetists.
When there is no doubt about the institute’s role in rehabilitation care and contribution of the above three departments, the Bashwan Committee had proposed to facilitate the man power development in the field of rehabilitation to make it equivalent to NITs and IITs.
Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot on March 13, 2016 had visited the premises and proposed to create the SVNIRTAR a center of excellence to improve the disability.
But the proposal only focused to increase staffs and improve the infrastructures only in the department providing surgical treatment ignoring the departments providing rehabilitation services, said an official.
In their memorandum, the authorities had also not given any proposal regarding the promotion and increase in number of staffs of these departments, which provide graduate and post graduate courses.
“For the last 20 years, these departments have been managing with very low staff-patient and staff-student ratios. As per the guidelines, the necessary staff structure can only be properly suggested by staff inspection unit.
Autocracy, conspiracy and manipulation of a particular group is deviating from the major objectives of the institute,” alleged many.