Facelift for early intervention centre of Beach General Hospital

KOZHIKODE: The early intervention centre of the General Hospital Beach is all set to get a facelift as the department of Health and Social Justice has decided to expand the activities of the District Early Intervention Centres (DEICs). In 2014, the health and social justice department launched a major joint initiative to tackle childhood disabilities through early identification of developmental delays and disabilities and also early intervention for children.

For the new project envisaged for the expansion of the centre, a decision has been made to utilize nearly 30 cents of lands inside the Beach Hospital for the construction of the new building for the centre, which will have state of the art equipment. “Soon after the acquisition of the land is completed, we will be able to start the construction of the building”, said Jamal NS, official of Social Justice Department. He added that the early intervention centre had been very helpful for children as it was the first point of screening for developmental delays and disabilities in children between the ages of 0 to 6.

When the concept of Early Intervention centre was designed, it was decided that all the DEIC’s would have a special team including a doctor, paediatrician, dental hygienist, audiologist, speech therapist, psychologist, optometrist, and a special educator or social worker. This team will work to screen children and proceed with further treatment and counseling. But due to the lack of facilities at the Beach Hospital, things were not smooth at the centre, but once the expansion is completed, all facilities would be available. At present the hospital has only one ward allotted to the Early Intervention center. The new building will have 12,000 square feet with all the facilities including swimming pool for hydro therapy treatment.