Five persons with disabilities decry ‘indifferent’ attitude of GRH medical board staff and doctor

Five persons with disabilities decry ‘indifferent’ attitude of GRH medical board staff and doctor 

The five with visual impairment visited the medical board located at the Department of Ophthalmology, Government Rajaji Hospital, to obtain certificates for scribe allocation and extra time for TNPSC exam; health department staff and a doctor at the hospital allegedly denied authorisation certification for the examination, citing unavailability of the doctor concerned after a day-long-wait

C. PALANIVEL RAJAN MADURAI 05.08.2025

In yet another instance of indifferent attitude shown towards differently abled persons, some health department staff and a doctor at the Government Rajaji Hospital denied authorisation certification for government examination, citing unavailability of the doctor concerned after a day-long-wait.

On Monday morning, five differently abled persons with visual impairment visited the medical board located at the Department of Ophthalmology, GRH, to obtain certificates for scribe allocation and extra time for TNPSC examination.

Through an order, Tamil Nadu government recently mandated certificate from the medical board determining the disability of the applicants to grant them scribe and extra time for TNPSC examinations.

N. Barathi, one of the five differently abled persons, said that in the previous instance when they visited the medical board for the same authorisation certificate to apply for Group-4 examination, the doctor, without even perusing the G.O., provided the certificate without mentioning date and time of issuing the certificate.

Due to that, he said, they feared that their results would be denied by the government, owing to lack of details in the certificate.

M. Srikanth, another visually impaired person, said that the last date to apply for the TNPSC Group 2A examination was on August 13.

“To apply for the examination, they required the authorisation certificate which ought to be uploaded with the online application,” he added.

As the process was an arduous task and to avoid last-minute confusions, they approached the medical board on Monday morning to get the certificate, he noted.

The staff at the medical board asked them to wait as the doctor was yet to arrive, Mr. Srikanth said.

But, at about 2 p.m., the same staff said that the doctor was unavailable and asked them to visit again on Wednesday, he added.

Pointing out the ‘insensitive’ approach of the health department staff, he said that it was not an easy task for them to visit the hospital without the support of another person.

“For every visit they had to seek the assistance of someone else. If we must visit the medical board again on Wednesday, then we will again need someone to help us,” he stated.

The doctors at the medical board, at least considering the practical difficulties faced by the differently abled people, should try to treat them with respect and expedite the process of providing them the certificates, he appealed.

A. Balamurugan, district secretary, Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled and Caregivers, condemned the indifferent attitude of the doctor and said that the incident was not new.

“Every time when a differently abled person visits the medical board, they have to bear the humiliations and abusive treatments from the hospital staff. To obtain what we are entitled to as per the law, we are being ill-treated,” he lamented.

The system to upload the certificate for allocation of scribes and granting of extra time was unnecessary as all the differently abled people have a government issued disability certificate with them already, he noted.

The need to prove their disability every time increased their burden, he added.

L. Arul Sundaresh Kumar, Dean, GRH, said that the five differently abled people had wrongly visited the Outpatient Department to obtain the certificate. By the time they completed the medical test and other processes, the doctor had left the office, he added.

However, the Dean said that he had informed the doctor to issue the certificate to the five of them.

S. Saravanan, Resident Medical Officer, GRH, said the hospital administration instructed the differently abled persons to visit the OP ward instead of the medical board for obtaining the certificate. But, as they visited the ward only after 11 a.m., the staff could not provide the certificates on time, he added.