Rehabilitation of 117 spinal cord injury victims

During the last 4 months no of persons with Spinal Cord Injury in the project area has gone up to180. As mentioned in our earlier reports this is the most common disability among males in rural Karnataka, caused by fall from Coconut and Tamarind trees, road accidents and also cases involving tractors. While driving a tractor the farmer sometimes trips an electric pole by pulling out the underground cable resulting in the pole falling straight on his back causing serious Spinal cord injury.

These beneficiaries received therepeutic interventions to prevent pressure sores, stiffness and Contracture. Improving mobility, training on wheelchair usage and bowel and bladder managemnt are among the  important interventions carried out by project staff. Various assistive devices and mobility appliances like  water bed, airbed, urine catheter, urine bag, wheel chairs, crutches and walkers are provided to the affected beneficiaries in the project area.

A major intervention by project staff is to provide constant counselling and psychological therapy to improve their spirits, will to live and get back to a certain level of normalcy within the existing constraints.

Project staff also have assisted  a significant number of these people in availing of various benefical schemes of the Federal, State and District level governments in terms of financial assistance, medical rehabilitation, etc.

Unfortunately the persons with spinal cord injuries need continual care for their entire life and the project staff provide them the same in order to reduce the burden on the extended families of such persons, especially since bulk of them come from economically weaker sections of the rural societies.