Dental screening camp concludes

Hyderabad: The Indian Dental Association (IDA), Deccan Branch in association with the Special Olympics Bharat - Telangana State, a  National Sports Federation, registered and recognised by the Government of India, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports; hosted a two-day dental screening, check-up and awareness camp, for the benefit of Intellectually Disabled Special Olympics athletes in Telangana, at National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Manovikas Nagar, Secunderabad.

The Camp was formally inaugurated by Dolly Chakravarthy, Jt. Director, Dept of Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disability, New Delhi, also present on the occasion were Dr Himanshu Das, In-charge Director, National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disability (NIEPID), Chennai; Major B V Ramkumar, Dy. Director, NIEPID; Dr Y S Reddy, President, IDA Deccan branch; Raja Shekar, Head, Special Olympics Bharat - Telangana State and Dr A Srikanth, Secretary, IDA, Deccan branch; on Monday at NIMH. The Camp was attended by 20 Clinical Specialists and over 250 intellectually disabled athletes.

Speaking on the occasion, Dolly Chakravarthy said, “IDA deserves kudos for this humongous initiative which aids children with Intellectual Disability and helps them to preserve dental hygiene, which is so much essential in the overall maintenance of health. I request IDA to take this joint venture with the Special Olympics Bharat, forward and arrange for treatment of these children on regular basis. 

The 20 Doctors who took personal initiative and are getting specially trained for treating these Intellectual Disability Children also need special appreciation.” Major (Retd) B V Ramkumar, said, “From the parents perspective this programme is considered to be valuable. It enables them to understand and take a tip or two to ensure extra care of the child's dental needs, I am sure they are extremely happy to be part of it. 

Raja Shekar said, “We are covering 694 districts in India in 36 states through Special Olympics Bharat program. He pointed out that recently Special Olympics Bharat – Telangana State, was the recipient of Golisano International Award on behalf of India. Dr Y S Reddy said, “Indian Dental Association has signed MOU with Special Olympics Bharat, at the national level in 2017 and through Eunice Shriver Kennedy camps. We are doing check up programs though out the country through various IDA branches in various states.” 

Dr Himanshu Das said, “Dental Services should be provided for Intellectual Disabled Children since they have difficulty in coordinating hand movements while brushing.”On the first day of the Camp all the Clinical Volunteers underwent training on 'learn and practice' special skills to handle the intellectually disabled persons, students, children. The next Dental Screening, Checkup and awareness camp, for the Intellectually Disabled Special Olympics athletes, will be held at Warangal and neighboring districts in Telangana, on February 1 and 2 .