PESHAWAR, Nov 26: Speakers at a workshop on eye care stressed the need for establishing special departments in educational institutions of the Northern Areas, Kashmir, and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in order to fight various disabilities.

The workshop organised by a local NGO, Comprehensive Health and Education Forum (Chef), at a local hotel was chaired by Chef chairman and Khyber Medical University vice-chancellor Prof Mohammad Daud Khan and attended by 57 dignitaries from all over the country.

Provincial Health Minister Syed Kamal Shah appreciated the efforts made by Chef in the field of health and said it was the policy of the government to work for the betterment of the disabled. The government would encourage social workers and provide them all facilities, he added.

The workshop adopted a number of resolutions which recommended that there should be a national committee for implementation of health plans. Professionals should be appointed on posts of directors in the provincial and federal government departments.

The workshop also called for setting up of a regional resource centre for identification, referral and data collection of disabled people in the identified districts.

It was recommended that the role of lady health visitors and lady health workers should be improved at the community level so that they could play an effective role in detecting disability.

The speakers called for the role of Nadra in data collection of disable people. They recommended that information about the disability should be mentioned on vaccination cards.

The speakers also called for creating a new department or institute to develop speech therapists, occupational therapists and audiologist and it should be linked with universities, especially with medical universities.

They said that tehsil and district-level hospitals lacked many facilities especially unavailability of equipment. They demanded availability of equipment under the supervision of certified sales organisations.