The wife of Prime Cabinet secretary Ms Tessie Mudavadi has asked the National Government to come up with policies that will be geared towards supporting children living with cerebral palsy and autism.
Speaking in Karatina town while in the company of the Chairman of Ahadi Kenya Trust Dr Stanely Kamau, Ms Mudavadi appealed to society to embrace and love them saying that sometimes these children lack love from the people they live with.
The two also presented gifts to more than 150 patients of the disease drawn from various parts of Nyeri County.
Her sentiments were echoed by the chairman of Ahadi Kenya, Kamau, who observed that cerebral palsy has not been given the much attention it deserves saying it is expensive to maintain and children coming from humble backgrounds tend to go without medication thus making them to remain in a vegetative state throughout their life.
Ms Mudavadi also appealed to President William Ruto to intervene to ensure that the welfare of children living with Cerebral Palsy is looked into saying the government should do more in assisting families affected with the disability.
“Families taking care of children with the disabilities have found themselves in awkward situations since they have to balance between taking care of the patients and finding ways of fending for the rest of the family. Institutions that cater for these special children are mostly in the private sector making it almost unaffordable to ordinary Kenyans who have children with special needs, a child with special needs is special of course, their needs are unique and lack of public access is posing a challenge to parents and guardians both financially and emotionally,” she observed.
“I urge society to learn to embrace and offer support to parents who have children with different kinds of disabilities. It may not be much but it will surely ease the life of the young child one way or another,” she said.
Ms Mudavadi also decried lack of proper equipment in public hospitals to constantly monitor and detect early warning signs for children with cerebral palsy and autism.
“I’m particularly bringing this to the attention of President Ruto, to kindly look at the possibility of establishing schools of children living with disabilities from Kindergarten all the way to high school, let us also put in place in public hospitals mechanism for detection of early warning signs for children with special needs, “she said.
By Beth Ndirangu
