At 19 years of age, Datta Baban Gawli, a vendor earning his living in local trains at Daund, suffered an accident and it led to the amputation of both his legs. Not one to give up, he got a tricycle wheelchair and started selling goods again. He availed a disability certificate from Sassoon general hospital to ensure that he could use the tricycle wheelchair in the train. To renew the certificate, 39-year-old Gawli had reached Pune five days ahead of the scheduled day of Wednesday when both Sassoon and Aundh district hospitals issued disability certificates online. He stayed on the roads during the days and at the railway station at nights, but little did he realise that now a ration card was not the sole criteria to avail a disability certificate or renew it.

“I was told to submit an Aadhar card or PAN card. Now, I will have to go back to Baramati and apply for an Aadhar card. Till such time, however, I will have no source of income,” he told Pune Newsline. Gawli is among the 25,000 persons who had been issued disability certificates online, in the past three years, by Sassoon and Aundh district hospitals. According to an analysis by the hospitals, maximum number of persons seeking disability certificates suffer from orthopaedic impairments. A few persons with mental illness also seek these certificates. The disability certificate is crucial in determining whether a person is entitled to reservation in government jobs under the physically challenged category, as mandated by the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. Those with at least 40 per cent disability are entitled to reservation under this category. Officials at the hospitals admitted that initially there were technical glitches with the software installed to issue certificates online. Despite creating awareness about the new set of criteria for issuing these certificates, several persons were still unaware of it or had to make repeated visits to acquaint themselves with it, added officials. The state, however, has tried to double its efforts towards the speedy dispensation of disability certificates. Since January 2013, a total of 3.6 lakh applicants have registered at 48 hospitals and a total of 2.7 lakh certificates have been issued to differently-abled persons. The software had been necessitated after problems of subjectivity crept in during assessments by medical boards appointed to issue disability certificates for the differently-abled to avail the 3 per cent quota in government jobs. Ajay Taware, medical superintendent of B J Medical College and Sassoon general hospital, said that a large number of people had applied for disability certificates and those with orthopaedic ailments topped the list. At Sassoon general hospital, over 34,000 persons have applied for disability certificates and over 21,000 certificates have been issued already. Among those issued certificates, a large number of persons suffer from orthopaedic ailments, followed by 5000 who suffer from visual impairment, another 4000 from hearing disability and 4500 from mental retardation. Only 200 persons with mental illness have been issued disability certificates. Since 2013 till date, a total of 5840 persons have applied for disability certificates and 5453 certificates have been issued by Aundh district hospital. Sanjay Deshmukh, civil surgeon at Aundh district hospital, said that every Wednesday, at least 70-100 persons were being issued these certificates after a medical team in each department — orthopaedic, ENT, psychiatry — assessed the applicants and fed the data into the computer for the software to evaluate the extent of their disability. He admitted that the entire process was lengthy, but the certificates were being issued on the same day. “However, after seeing the rush on Wednesdays, we are planning to keep the Thursdays as well for the differently-abled persons to apply for disability certificates,” he added. 

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/disability-certificate-new-...