The Odisha Government today renewed its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cure International India Trust (CURE India) for the Odisha Clubfoot Programme.
This MoU, is a commitment for joint collaboration of three departments of the State Government Health & Family Welfare (H&FW) Department, Women & Child Development (W&CD) Department and Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disability (SS&EPD) Department with CURE India, towards achieving the objective of the programme.
Owing to successful running of the programme the State government renewed the MoU for a further period of two years in the presence of H&FW Minister, Commissioner-cum-Secretary H&FW Department and officers representing W&CD Department as well as SS&EPD Department and Director, Cure International India Trust (Cure India).
Clubfoot is one of the most common physical disabilities in newborn infants, causing the feet to twist inward and around.
Every year, approximately 2000 children are born with clubfoot in Odisha, which has a population of over 4 crore people.
Many of these children are born with clubfoot and are physically challenged for the rest of their lives, with the majority of them never having the opportunity to attend school.
The Odisha Clubfoot Program’s goal is to eliminate disability in children caused by clubfoot using the Ponseti method of treatment.
The program began in December 2012, when the Odisha government signed an agreement with Cure International India Trust (CURE India), a national healthcare organization based in the country. The MoU is periodically renewed.
Till date more than 5000 children from the State have benefitted from the programme, around 110 doctors of Odisha have been trained in Ponseti Technique, apart from various other activities being undertaken under the programme.
Under this partnership, the following activities are undertaken:
- Counselling parents on treatment of clubfoot.
- Follow-up of each child through telephonic calls and house visits.
- Community sensitization on prevalence of clubfoot and its available treatment.
- Training of Orthopedic Doctors on the Ponseti Method for treating clubfoot
- Training of Community link health workers and collaboration with RBSK for identification.
- Referral of clubfoot cases to designated clubfoot clinics.
- Distribute foot Abduction Braces free of cost to every child suffering from Clubfoot.
- Maintain 24×7 clubfoot helpline (# 88 000 20527) for any issue relating to clubfoot.
Source:OCN