Telangana has online slots for SADAREM, but disabled people point to access issues

The Telangana government is all set to make it easier for disabled people in the state to attend SADAREM camps. SADAREM stands for Software for Assessment of Disabled for Access Rehabilitation and Empowerment. Disabled people can now book online slots at MeeSeva centres. This is indeed a welcome move, but disabled people point to many hurdles.

The Telangana government introduced Software for Assessment of Disabled for Access Rehabilitation and Empowerment (SADAREM) camps a few years back. The main purpose of SADAREM was to create a web-enabled system for access, rehabilitation and empowerment of people with disabilities in the state. There were many issues in implementing this crucial scheme for disabled people. Issues the state government has promised to fix in 2020 by making the process simpler.

Disabled people can now book an online slot at MeeSeva centres. The new rule has been implemented from 1 January 2020.

Many hurdles of SADAREM

There were many hurdles for disabled people when it came to attending SADAREM camps. Lack of adequate computers and equipment, shortage of doctors and as well as security personnel to man the camps were some of the main issues. The camps were simply unable to attend to the disabled people who came to the camps. The result was chaos at SADAREM camps.

The state government’s latest initiative to book online slots at MeeSeva centers has been welcomed. However, some issues remain. One of the main problems is accessibility in public transport. Visiting offices or even hospitals becomes an impossible task and this is a cause of concern.

MD Firoz, a disability rights activist from Telangana, told The Hans India that the government should arrange SADAREM medical camps in specific areas. “It is better if the government arranges SADAREM medical camps in respective areas to help people with severe nature of disability to attend without any hardship”.

A ray of hope

Earlier, disabled people had to register at the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) offices. But now, this can be done as online booking for medical check-ups and other facilities, which the government claims will make things faster and easier for disabled community. They need to visit the MeeSeva centre with their identity cards only once.

Sai Baba Goud is the founder of Devnar School for the blind, one of the oldest schools for visually impaired people in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. He says, “This is indeed a welcome movie. Now, more disabled people can do the procedures online. It will make things easier. But again, visiting the MeeSeva centres is still going to be a problem due to lack of accessibility”.

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Also Read:

• Statistics & studies show Telangana largely inaccessible for people with disabilities