A Video Gait Analysis Lab was inaugurated at Ganga Hospital to mark Cerebral Palsy Day. It was launched by Dr. Kezevino Aram, Director, Santhi Ashram.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Aram urged elders to take adequate care of the children affected by cerebral palsy.

“They should be taken to good hospitals where treatment to their problems is available and those children should not be viewed as a burden on the society.”

She lauded the excellent services of Ganga Hospital with its new and innovative methods of treatment and said that the new Lab was one such example, which was a first in Coimbatore.

Dr. K. Venkatadas of Paediatric Fracture Wing explained that a child was affected by cerebral palsy, if there was a flaw in the oxygen flow to the brain or if the child suffered suffocation immediately after birth. Due to the blockage of commands flowing from brain to the muscles, the child would be unable to walk properly and would be mentally retarded.

On an average, 3 out of 1000 children were affected by this disease and in India, more than 25 lakh were affected by this. If such affected children were brought to hospitals in the initial stage itself, there was a possibility of cure. But in most case, the children were brought to hospitals only at an advanced stage.

The new lab would facilitate accurate study of the cerebral palsy condition, which portions of the muscles were affected, by video graphing the gait of the cerebral palsy affected child from two different postures.

Earlier the children affected by cerebral palsy took part in a drawing competition and prizes were distributed to the winners.