Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday asked the Health Department to tie up with the World Class Autism Centre for providing the best treatment facilities to the patients with Autism.
Addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of Advanced Autism and Research Care Centre here in Sector 79 at the cost of Rs.16 crore, first of its kind not within the country but across the globe, he said he was extremely pained to know about the trauma and hardships faced by the children suffering from Autism and especially their parents for their upbringing right from their birth.
Referring to a a doctor in his medical team whose child was also suffering from Autism since birth, Badal said, “the doctor’s ordeal in nurturing his Autistic child inspired me to do something tangible for the welfare of such children and this Advanced Centre was a positive step in that direction.”
Badal asked both the Advisor and Principal Secretary Health to work out modalities to ink an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with some world acclaimed Autism institute to bring the best faculty and staff to provide the best treatment facilities to the children inflicted with Autism and training to their parents to handle them with utmost care and patience.
Earlier, Dr Gurpreet Singh member from Chief Minister’s Medical Team welcomed Badal and gave a brief account of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and said that the parents of these differently abled children should motivate them to excel in their fields of interests like music, dance, painting, sports etc. He thanked the Chief Minister for this unique initiative and hoped this centre would go a long way in mitigating the sufferings of children inflicted with Autism and their parents.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the function, Badal reacted sharply to the irresponsible utterances of the MlAs who left the SAD-BJP alliance government and joined Congress, saying such turncoats follow a pro-party line while they were a part of the alliance and moment they are out they start criticising us because their sole motive was to secure ticket from any party by hook or crook to pursue their vested interests.
Asked to comment on Kejriwal’s statement to give the post of Deputy Chief Minister to a Dalit, the Chief Minister said, “How merely a post of Deputy Chief Minister will help to transform the destiny of under privileged sections of the society when you are not sincere towards them from the core of your heart.” He said it was on record that SAD-BJP launched many pro-poor schemes like Atta-Dal, Shagun, Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana and several others to improve their economic lot without any political motive.