Delhi Govt felicitates Dr Satendra Singh with State Awards for Persons with Disabilities, 2016

International Day of Persons with Disabilities turned out to be a special affair for eight people with disabilities who were  felicitated by Delhi government for their achievements in various fields. Delhi Social Welfare Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was the Chief  Guest but in his absence Minister of Labour and Employment Mr Gopal Rai felicitated them for their exceptional achievements in the field of creativity, sports, entrepreneurship and social work as part of the State Awards for Persons with Disabilities, 2016.


Dr Satendra Singh got the award in the 'Social Work' category. His achievements are enlisted in the Times of India graphic on the left.

They Tell tales of a disabled system that hurt them. (Times of India, 3 Dec 2016)

NEW DELHI: Physically challenged people got a rare opportunity to share their grievances with the state government when they gathered at the Delhi Secretariat for a felicitation function on Friday. Delhi labour minister Gopal Rai rewarded them by hearing out their stories, among them tales of discrimination, inadequate Braille and educational materials for students and, above all, the lack of job opportunities. The minister nudged the officials of social welfare department present to respond to the complaints.
The programme had been organised by Delhi government's department of social welfare to honour exceptional achievers among the physically challenged on the eve of International Day for Persons with Disabilities.

Rai invited the persons with disabilities (PwDs) to talk of problems faced by them before the cultural and felicitation programme began. "I would like to learn about the issues that trouble PwDs," Rai said. "Perhaps then, by the time the next felicitation function is held next year, we will have been able to take these issues up as challenges for our government to address." He said Friday's function would prove more meaningful if the government got suggestions on how to help PwDs.

While Dr Satendra Singh, recipient of the award in the category of social work, highlighted the problem of accessibility of public spaces and the disability policies of the government, a student of a blind school drew the government's attention to some of the basic issues they confronted regularly, like lack of teachers and paucity of teaching-learning aids.

Dr Singh suggested that the first step for the government should be to have a separate 'department for disability'. He also pointed out that the post of commissioner of disability was lying vacant for over a year now and that state executive and state coordination committees had not been constituted in Delhi for over one and half years despite provisions for such panels in the Disability Act. "If these issues are addressed, no one can stop us from making Delhi disabled-friendly," concluded Singh.

The sportspersons among the PwDs present brought up the topic of job opportunities or the lack of them in the capital. R Kumar, a national-level table tennis player, said, "I have represented Delhi at various levels, but there is no provision for jobs for us under the sports quota here."

Mohammad Sahir, a blind student, talked of the difficulties that primary and middle school students at a government senior secondary for blind boys have been facing for three years.

"There are around 10 positions for teachers lying vacant in the school for the last three years," he said. "We even demonstrated against the vacancies not being filled. Besides, we also need Braille books and audio books. Because of the lack of audio devices, we have been struggling."

Responding to these complaints, the department officials promised that the vacancies would be dealt with temporarily by appointing guest teachers and efforts would be made for permanent appointments. They assured the students they would be provided audio books within a week.

Source: Times of India, 3 Dec 2016

Doctors with disability: Surgical jobs still denied

Rema Nagarajan,TNN | Jun 29, 2015 

If the health ministry and the Medical Council of India (MCI) had had their way, Dr Suresh H Advani, the haemato-oncologist who performed the first successful bone marrow transplant in India, would never have become a doctor. 

Advani's legs were afflicted by polio and he uses a wheelchair. By the health ministry's classification, he would be certified as being more than 70% disabled and hence not fit to study medicine. For decades, policy makers, mostly 'non-disabled', have decided what persons with disabilities are capable of. That is why, a double amputee or even a mid-thigh amputee, who would be classified as having 85% or more of locomotor disability, would not be allowed to study medicine. "How can some people sitting at the top decide what people are capable of, in a blanket fashion? If people can prove they're able to do a certain job, without asking for too many concessions, they ought to pose no hurdles," said Advani, who was initially denied permission to study medicine. He then obtained a special permit from the then state health minister to study in Grant Medical College, Mumbai, and completed his MBBS in 1969.

Medical colleges have been opened up to people with locomotor disabilities, thanks to the 1995 Disability Act. But until very recently, these doctors were kept out of all central health service (CHS) jobs. It took four years of RTI appeals and legal tussles by Dr Satendra Singh, a doctor with disability, to change this policy. 

Even though the health ministry has changed the policy for CHS jobs, discrimination continues in top institutions such as PGI Chandigarh, Maulana Azad Medical College in Delhi and various ESI hospitals and medical colleges across the country. TOI has scanned copies of advertisements that state jobs under non-surgical disciplines only are reserved for persons with locomotor disabilities. Ironically, several MBBS graduates with disabilities who cleared the PG entrance exam have been allotted surgical disciplines. "Why allot us surgical disciplines and train us when these jobs are not open to us?" asked a student who is currently pursuing PG in orthopaedics. 

In 2003, the MCI stipulated that only those with locomotor disability of the lower limbs between 50% and 70% can be given admissions in medical courses and the courts ensured that these persons could avail the 3% disability quota in medical colleges. Certain disciplines have also been opened for those with one arm affected. In the 12 years since, even if just 1% of those 3% MBBS seats were filled, it would amount to over a thousand doctors with locomotor disability. 

Data on physicians with disability is not readily available internationally. But since 2000, associations of such doctors have been coming up in the US, the UK and Canada. In the UK, the General Medical Council has stated that a disability need not be a bar to becoming a doctor if the student can fulfill the demands of professional fitness to practise as a newly qualified doctor. 

In India, encouraged by their increasing numbers and Dr Singh's victory, these doctors are coming together to fight for their rights. Recently, they formed a Google group called 'Doctors with Disability: Agents of Change'. "I had approached the Indian Medical Association for help; they ignored us. But our numbers are growing and we are confident that we can do this on our own," said Dr Singh.Source: Times of India 29 June 2015     

A crusader's lone fight opens up CHS jobs for disabled doctors

After keeping out doctors with disability from over a thousand central health services (CHS) jobs for years, the health ministry has decided to open up teaching, non-teaching and public health specialist cadres of CHS to doctors with disability. The decision was the result of one doctor's relentless fight for justice over four years.

It all began in 2011, when Dr Satendra Singh, who became an assistant professor of Physiology in the University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital in Delhi in 2008, applied for the post of assistant professor (physiology) in the Teaching Specialist sub-cadre of CHS through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). He received no interview call.

Dr Singh, whose right leg is affected by polio, is certified as having 70% locomotor disability of the lower limb. The Medical Council of India has extended 3% reservation for persons with disability in medical college admissions, open only to students with locomotor disability of the lower limb between 40% and 70%. However, many such students who completed their MBBS and post-graduation were being kept out of services for which recruitment is done through the UPSC. "They are never told why they are rejected. I have a permanent job. I am in Delhi. How many doctors with disability who were rejected by UPSC can go to court or even approach the UPSC?" said Dr Singh, who is also a member of the Delhi Medical Council.

According to Dr Singh, he mentioned his disability in the application form because it demanded the information and not because he wanted to be selected under the disability quota. "On getting no interview call, I enquired at the UPSC recruitment cell and was told I am not fit to apply as I was disabled. This, despite the fact that I was already working as an assistant professor in a medical college under a central university," said Dr Singh.

He then approached the Central Administrative Tribunal, which asked the UPSC to call him for interview. He was called, but did not get selected. In 2013, seeing an ad for the same post, he applied just to find out if things had changed for disabled candidates. In the online form, when he filled the boxes on disability, type and percentage, the registration flashed, "sorry, you are not eligible for the post." Nothing had changed.

Dr Singh approached the court of the Chief Commissioner for persons with disability and the health ministry and got permission to apply for the posts, but UPSC cancelled all interviews in physiology, for reasons not known. "I was allowed to apply, but what about other candidates like me? I wanted the policy changed for all candidates with disability and not just for me and so I decided to follow up the issue," said Dr Singh.

Through an RTI application, Dr Singh found out that all specialist jobs under CHS, whether teaching, non-teaching or public health, were deemed not suitable for persons with disabilities. "To be granted an MBBS or MD/MS (post-graduation) degree, all disabled medical students attend clinical postings, operation theatres, OPDs and emergency postings during internship. How could they say we are not suitable? It was shocking. So, in December 2014, I wrote to the health minister requesting that all specialist posts under CHS be opened for doctors with disabilities," said Dr Singh.

Though the minister sought action, it was only after repeated reminders and phone calls to ministry officials that Dr Singh was finally told that all CHS posts were open to persons with disabilities. However, they did not give him a copy of the order. It took an RTI application for him to eventually get a copy on June 6.

Thanks to Dr Singh's persistence, 756 posts in the teaching specialist sub-cadre, 770 posts in non-teaching specialist sub-cadre and 78 posts in public health specialist sub-cadre have been thrown open to doctors with disabilities.

"PM Modi tweeted on World Disability Day that we, the people with disabilities, are 'heroes'. Unfortunately, these heroes have to go to courts for their rights and a government doctor has to file an RTI to get a government order," lamented Dr Singh.

Source: Times of India, 14 June 2015