Support for the Differently-Abled
We are dedicated to empowering the differently-abled by offering them opportunities to work, study and shine in whatever skills they have through our programmes. So far, we have supported over 250 prosthetic surgeries and provided employment opportunities for the visually impaired in the Finolex Industries Ltd call centre. Mission Cerebral Palsy is one of our central projects with support for surgeries, physiotherapy and provision of wheelchairs. Over 1,000 children have been cared for under this initiative.
We have been providing groceries, educational assistance and infrastructure development to institutes for the visually impaired and the differently-abled in Maharashtra. We also support Bal Kalyan Sanstha every year on World Disability Day and have contributed a CCTV system and a water tank. Wheelchairs, prosthetics and other forms of assistance have also been provided to individuals with disabilities.
Health assessment camp for children with Cerebral Palsy in Ratnagiri
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd)
As part of our commitment to providing healthcare support under Mission Cerebral Palsy, we organised a three-day assessment camp for children with Cerebral Palsy from January 27th to January 29th, 2023.
On the first day, we screened 37 children at the Urban Health Centre of Walawalkar Hospital in Chiplun. Over the next two days, the camp was conducted at the Finolex Guest House in Ratnagiri. We screened 67 children on the second day of the camp and 41 children on the third day.
A total of 138 children were assessed over the three days by doctors from Sancheti Hospital, Bharati Hospital, KEM Hospital and HV Desai Eye Hospital in Pune and Walawalkar Hospital in Chiplun. Their services included Orthopaedic assessment, Neuro assessment, Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, eye check-up, measurements for orthotics and parental counselling. During their assessments, they also prescribed surgery, orthotic devices and regular therapy to the children.
We would like to share our heartfelt gratitude to Finolex Industries Ltd for their support.
Skill development for the differently-abled in Ratnagiri
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd, Supported by Yuva Parivartan)
As part of our initiative, Mission Cerebral Palsy, which began in 2017 at Ratnagiri, we have been investing efforts to provide CP children with physiotherapy and speech therapy.
To train CP children in livelihood skills, we initiated certified skill development sessions in making incense sticks, candles and diyas. The sessions were held at the Finolex Skilling Centre in Gholap, Ratnagiri, in collaboration with Yuva Parivartan.
On January 28th, 2023, we held a certificate distribution event for the nine children and their parents who have completed these certified training sessions.
The certificates were awarded by Civil Surgeon Dr Sangamitra Fule, Dr Patwardhan from Sancheti hospital, Dr Botre and Dr Jha from KEM Hospital in the presence of their teams of doctors, Team Finolex and Team MMF.
Healthcare and vocational training support to young adults with deaf-blindness and multiple disabilities in Guwahati
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd, Supported by Sense International for Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Educational Services for Children and Young Adults with Deaf-Blindness and Multiple Disabilities)
Deaf-blindness is a condition where a person has both, visual and hearing difficulties to varying degrees, making simple daily activities a challenge.
In our endeavour to support young adults with deaf-blindness and multiple disabilities, we at MMF have initiated a new project that provides healthcare and vocational training to them. This project is in collaboration with Sense International for Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Educational Services for Children and Young Adults with Deaf-Blindness and Multiple Disabilities, which is based in Shishu Sarothi in Guwahati, Assam.
On January 25th, 2023, we signed an agreement for this pilot project in the presence of the Executive Director, Akhil Paul; Deputy Director, Uttam Kumar and Deputy Director – Development, Biju Mathew along with Team MMF.
The objective of this initiative is to support 66 beneficiaries for 3 months with
- Provision of need-based early intervention services for deaf-blindness and Multiple Disabilities (MD).
- Educational/ pre-vocational training through centre-based, home-based or community rehabilitation-based services along with medical, nutrition, therapy and rehabilitation support services.
- Provision of pre-vocational, vocational training and counselling services.
- Building skills of the Dalit Bahujan Resource Centre (DBRC) professionals to work with children who suffer from deaf-blindness and MD to ensure the sustainability of this project.
- Developing their network with deaf-blind adults, parents of other deaf-blind children and special educators.
Support to Cerebral Palsy children in Ratnagiri
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd)
We arranged a picnic for the 33 CP children from Finolex CP Rehab Centre, Ratnagiri, to Bataye Beach along with their family members. We organised fun-filled beach activities like building sandcastles, tug of war and kite flying, among others.
We had arranged for transport and food for all. We would like to mention a special thanks to Dr Pratik, our physiotherapist from Ratnagiri, and Team Finolex. We are happy to have been able to impart joy and create a meaningful difference in the lives of the CP children.
Support with physiotherapy equipment to a CP Centre in Satara
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd, Supported by AkshayPatra)
As part of our initiative, Mission Cerebral Palsy, we held an event on January 7th, 2023, at the Finolex CP centre at Tarle village in Satara’s Patan district. In collaboration with the NGO Aksay Patra, established by the people of Tarle village, we announced the donation of physiotherapy equipment such as a set of parallel bars and a rehabilitation staircase.
The handover of the equipment took place in the presence of Prataprao Jadhav, Director for Yasadha, Pune (Maharashtra State Administrative Training Institute); Dr Sunil Magar, Former Director of Education; Netaji Palkar, Director of Education for Scheme Department, Block coordinators, Special educators, Principal of the school and the Directors of AksayPatra.
Santosh Shelar, CSR Head at Finolex Industries Ltd in Satara, addressed the gathering. He spoke about the plethora of social projects undertaken by Finolex Industries Ltd and Mukul Madhav Foundation, with a special focus on our work under Mission Cerebral Palsy. Everyone appreciated our commitment to creating a better life for the specially abled and expressed their gratitude to us for running the CP centre at Tarle village.
Health camp for special children in Pune
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd)
It is our constant endeavour to better the lives of special children in any way that we can. On December 11th, 2022, we conducted a health camp at Tara Sofosh Dhadphale, a centre for special children in Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune. It was held in coordination with doctors from various hospitals in the city – namely, Dr Sandeep Patwardhan, a paediatric orthopaedic surgeon and Dr Saloni Raje, a neurorehabilitation physiotherapist, who practise at Sancheti Hospital, the Ophthalmology team from HV Desai Eye Hospital, and the Dental team from Dr DY Patil Dental College.
A total of 49 children were screened in coordination with these medical teams. Of these, 9 children were recommended surgery, 13 children (who have been bed-ridden) for hip x-ray, 12 children for orthotic devices, 27 for dental treatment, 12 were referred to HV Desai Hospital for an eye checkup with the use of refractometer equipment, 3 were recommended spectacles and 2, the use of eye drops.
Supporting the differently-abled with artificial limbs and callipers in Kheda, Gujarat
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd, Supported by Shree Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklag Sahayta Samiti and Sarda Social Welfare Trust)
The differently abled have a hard time even with the daily activities that most of us take for granted. Given this, we collaborated with two organisations – Shree Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklag Sahayta Samiti (Jaipur Foot) and Sarda Social Welfare Trust aka Maitry Sanstha – to organise artificial limbs and callipers for the differently abled.
From November 25th to November 29th, 2022, we assessed and instantly provided artificial limbs or callipers to around 130 differently-abled people at a health camp in Kheda, Gujarat.
Some of the patients who benefitted from this initiative had lost their limbs in accidents or due to ailments such as Diabetic Gangrene, vein blockage, Cerebral Palsy and Polio.
Patients arrived at the camp on wheelchairs, crutches and walking sticks, but left joyfully after they assessed their artificial legs.
Mission Cerebral Palsy celebrates its seventh anniversary
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd)
We, at Mukul Madhav Foundation, launched Mission Cerebral Palsy in November 2015 to help and support children with physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and with the required surgeries and orthotic devices.
With the support of Pune-based hospitals such as Sancheti Hospital, Bharati Hospital, HV Desai Hospital and KEM Hospital as well as the local authorities, we have expanded this initiative in Satara, Ratnagiri and Masar, Gujarat. We have established 9 rehabilitation centres with registrations from more than 1000 children.
Together with Finolex Industries, we celebrated Mission Cerebral Palsy’s 7th Anniversary with CP children. We organised an assessment for them with the support of Dr Richard Bowman, an ophthalmologist from the London School of Hygiene; Dr Sucheta Kulkarni, Dr Abhilasha HV Desai Hospital; the physiotherapy teams from Krishna Hospital, Sancheti Hospital and Nawale Hospital, and the speech therapist from Bharati Hospital.
We organised a two-day assessment at Tarale and Wai in Satara. A total of 190 children were assessed and will be supported for further treatment.
Dr Richard Bowman was delighted with this initiative for CP children and glad that he could be a part of it. He assessed the children and guided them for further treatment.
Supported the differently-abled in skill training in Mumbai
(Backed by Finolex Industries, Supported by The National Association of Disable Enterprises)
It is difficult for the differently abled to find gainful employment in regular jobs. So, we partnered with The National Association of Disable Enterprises (NADE), Vikhroli, Mumbai to provide a six-month vocational training course in making umbrellas to 50 disabled persons above 20 years of age. Of these, 30 are visually impaired, 10 are hearing impaired and 10 are mentally challenged young adults, based in Vangani, near Karjat, Panvel.
This skill will enable them to earn a monthly salary of Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000.
The objective of this collaboration is:
- to provide skill training in umbrella-making to at least 50 disabled persons;
- to provide employment opportunities to trained disabled persons in a Disabled’s Cooperative, set up and run by NADE.
- To make these people independent, self-reliant and sustain themselves so they can live a dignified life.
On the occasion of Dhanteras, on October 22nd, 2022, Mr K. N. Radhakrishnan Nair, the Hon. Secretary General at the NADE centre, signed an agreement with MMF in the presence of our respective teams.
Supported a child for a cochlear implant in Masar, Gujarat
(Backed by Finolex Industries, Supported by Tara Foundation, Ahmedabad and Shayona Foundation, Vadodara)
One-year-old Yashasvi Ingle from Masar, Gujarat, was diagnosed with hearing issues and was advised of a cochlear implant operation. Her father, Mr Vikas Ingle, approached us as the surgery was expensive and difficult for the family to bear. So we offered the necessary financial support in collaboration with Tara Foundation, Ahmedabad and Shayona Foundation, Vadodara.
Yashasvi’s surgery was successful and her father expressed his gratitude to us for the timely help provided for his child.