Published on: October 12, 2020

The Astana declaration of 2018 by World Nations asked all member countries of the United Nations not only to partner with the community; but also to give control over healthcare planning and delivery to the community.

Unfortunately, the way power structures are in place, all this gets forgotten. Possibly, if people with disability were included in the drafting committee, the draft National List of Essential Assistive Products (NLEAP) prepared by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) would have included the updated definition of blindness, low vision and hearing impairment and the draft deadlines would have been accessible to blind people, who also have a right to respond to it.

Link to respond: https://nleap.icmr.org.in/

Thank you, Dr Satendra Singh, for bringing this to public attention and thank you, for all that you do on behalf of people with disabilities.