08-07-2025
TARATDAC demands action against GRH doctor for ‘ill-treating' differently abled woman
Condemning a doctor of Government Rajaji Hospital who allegedly ill-treated a differently abled person, members of Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled and Caregivers (TARATDAC) staged protest outside the Collectorate here on Tuesday.
A. Balamurugan, district secretary, said that the medical board of GRH has the duty to study the amount of disability in a differently abled person and provide him/her with the disability certificate.
As the certificate would state the percentage of disability, based on it, the monthly monetary assistance and other benefits provided by the government would be decided, he added.
'To procure a certificate, Lakshmi, a hearing-impaired woman, went for an audiography test in GRH. The doctor, after testing, gave her a certificate saying she was 68% impaired. But while she was tested in a private hospital, the doctor said she had 100% disability,' he alleged.
When Ms. Lakshmi informed the GRH doctor the same, he had reportedly used vulgar language to disprove the private hospital's statement.
Mr. Balamurugan said that it was not a lone incident. Many people who had lost their legs would get their disability certificates noting 60% to 65% disability.
It was a gross violation of their rights as even difference in one number would cost the person a lot, he stated.
'When a 75% disabled person is eligible for ₹2,000 monthly assistance, anything below that would get ₹1,500,' he noted.
But doctors, unmindful of such nuances, understate the disabilities of beneficiaries.
'Many times a person who loses both his legs is given a temporary disability certificate which has to be renewed every two years,' Mr. Balamurugan said.
The doctors' empathy towards such trivial things could lessen the differently abled people's struggle by many folds, he added.
Demanding action against the doctor under the Rights of People with Disabilities Act, 2016, the protesters contended that such actions were necessary to prevent future incidents.
