Janjivan Bureau
New Delhi : AIIMS had constituted a Committee to examine the issues of accessibility. Nodal officers have been appointed for this purpose. Dr Srikumar V. Assistant Professor in Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation would be the nodal officer for the inclusive access initiatives. He would work with the faculty of IIT Roorkee to conduct the accessibility audit. AIIMS experts have visited various areas of the institute and suggested modifications wherever these were possible. As far the hospital was concerned, almost all the areas were universally accessible. All the new buildings which are coming up at AIIMS and that have come up after the notification are all compliant with universal access.
V.Srinivas Deputy Director AIIMS said that the AIIMS Administration is fully sensitized on the need to continuously improve its services for persons with disabilities to ensure inclusive accessibility to the Institute. He said that the review brought forth that there are a few places in the Institute where toilets for the wheel chair bound patients are lacking. Certain areas like the administrative block, teaching block, JLN Auditorium and biotechnology block are not accessible to persons with disabilities. These will be retrofitted to make them wheel chair accessible. A few toilets have been modified for access for wheel chair persons. The old building structure of AIIMS needs significant modifications and efforts are being made to convert the old buildings more barrier free. Currently elevators, installed in the hospital areas have an operator to guide the patients with special needs. Signages and announcement systems are also in place.
Srinivas further added that several Departments of AIIMS will be working on Accessibility issues in AIIMS. The efforts would be led by Prof U.Singh the Head of Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in consultation with Engineering Department and Hospital Administration Department. AIIMS has implemented the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan to make it a more patient friendly hospital for patients with disabilities. AIIMS would strive to take all necessary action to ensure that the disabled persons are provided inclusive accessibility.
