Dr Karuna Chelliah

It is with much sorrow that I have to inform all our supporters that Dr Karuna Chelliah, Secretary of Society for the Care of the Handicapped, died suddenly of a heart attack on 29^th March 2012.

The meaning of Karuna is compassion and Dr Karuna Chelliah lived the meaning of his name and was an example to all those living with any kind of disability.

Dr Chelliah was such a very special man, so kind, courteous and courageous and it was a privilege for me to have met him.  He made his vision of the boys’ home a reality and kept it alive with his heart, body and soul and I felt honoured to be able to support him in his work.

My life changed forever after I met the doctor and his wife – they became more than my friends, they became my family and my heart goes out to Mrs Princess Karuna and her daughters and grandchildren at this very sad time.

On 1st April 2012 a prayer meeting was held at the doctor’s house, so many people came and spoke about his good character and his love of poor people, the physically handicapped and of his patients.

The doctor’s goodness was obvious for all to see and he will be sadly missed but his legacy will live on through Mrs Princess Karuna who has been appointed by the Society’s Board as a Committee Member.

Mrs Princess, the Board Members, Staff and children at the home kindly request your continuous co-operation and support in the days to come.

I am sure that all the supporters of The Neem Tree Trust join me in expressing their deepest sympathy in the passing of Dr Chelliah but we would also like to celebrate his life and the thousands of lives he touched and enriched through his goodness and sacrifice.

Kathy Miller

The Union budget for 2007-08 has provided a significant outlay of Rs.1,290 crore for polio eradication and announced a revised immunisation plan, particularly for some districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where the virus persists. This important effort is part of the campaign to eradicate the indigenous wild poliovirus from one of the last four countries where it is found. As the World Health Organisation noted recently, some areas of India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are polio-endemic; 10 other countries are combating tail-end outbreaks caused by importation of the virus. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram acknowledged in his budget speech that the original national goal of eradicating polio by December 2007 has suffered a setback due to outbreaks in U.P. last year. This realisation has prompted the Centre to take some welcome decisions to strengthen the campaign. Among these is the introduction of monovalent vaccine that has greater efficacy against Type 1 wild poliovirus, supplementing the trivalent oral polio vaccine used in immunisation campaigns against both Type 1 and the less prevalent Type 3 viruses (Type 2 is considered globally eradicated). Another important aspect of the intensified campaign is its integration with the National Rural Health Mission, which will make available critical human resources. The newly trained cadre of Associated Social Health Activists of the NHRM will undertake a door-to-door immunisation effort in the high-risk districts — 20 in U.P. and 10 in Bihar; such programmes with specially trained personnel may prove beneficial in these areas because of the poor state of existing health services.

Regular monitoring by health workers and introduction of a better vaccine for the common Type 1 poliovirus can potentially achieve good results. Yet, there is evidence to show that even where supplementary immunisation campaigns have been carried out intensively in U.P. and Bihar, factors such as population density, prevalence of diarrhoea, and low routine immunisation coverage of children have severely hampered the goal of eradication. It is significant that in these two States, the vaccine has achieved lower efficacy than in other States, although children under five received more doses than those in other parts of the country in 2005. The poor outcomes of the immunisation programme are a result of interference by other viral enteric infections transmitted by diarrhoea. Such findings reinforce the fact that a well-directed campaign against polio will need the support of all flagship programmes on rural housing, urban renewal and sanitation, and not just health intervention.

© Copyright 2000 – 2006 The Hindu

Date:07/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/07/stories/2007030704641000.htm

It was quiet when we arrived in the early afternoon as all the boys were away at schools in the neighbouring town. We settled into our comfortable, simple accommodation and then sat outside in the shade of the neem trees. The boys had been told to expect us and as each group came through the gate, hot, dusty and tired, we immediately got a wave and big grins of welcome.

We were invited to be formally introduced to everyone after dinner. In the large hall all the boys were seated on the floor and we sat facing them – a sea of faces gazing up at us. They were as curious about us as we were about them. Johnson, the senior warden, spoke to the boys in Tamil and introduced them to us in age groups, from the tiny little 5 year olds up to the older teenagers, explaining which subjects the older ones were studying. He then pointed out who were brothers.

We were still feeling slightly nervous, not sure what we had let ourselves in for, but then the fun began. Just like at any school in Scotland, the children would entertain their visitors. To our amazement and great pleasure this started with a very lively rendition of Ten Green Bottles! Once the laughter subsided everyone relaxed and this set the tone for the rest of our stay.

Over the next four days Johnson and the staff explained how the Home worked and showed us around the dormitories, kitchens, cowsheds, schoolrooms (including music, hobbies, woodwork, tailoring and computers), the farm work with its cows, chickens, goats and crops. Endlessly patient, they answered all our questions.

Dr Chelliah was very interesting and informative as he discussed some of the particular disabilities of the boys and the difficulties they will face in the future. Part of the Neem Tree Trust funding helps to bridge the gap between the supported environment of the Home and the outside world where a young man will have to earn his own living. This is in line with the Home’s aim of enabling the boys to become self sufficient adults.

Princess (Dr Chelliah’s wife) proved to be an excellent tour guide and travelling companion as she escorted us on some site seeing trips. The highlight was visiting Cape Comorin at the very tip of India to watch the sunset. We even managed to attend an English church service at 7.30am!

There are too many memories of the boys themselves to write about them all – the One Meal Programme children wanting to see their photographs on the camera’s digital display; the amazing, fiercely competitive cricket match; the bus outing to the Science Park; an hour spent studying every photograph in the India guidebook with some of the little ones; the quiet evening conversations with the young men who will leave the Home this year, when they talked of their hopes for the future. None of this was inhibited by language differences.

We were very privileged to see at first hand what a well run and worthy organisation the Boys’ Home is and how donations to the Neem Tree Trust are making a difference to the future of these disabled young people.

AFTER THE POLIO outbreak of 2002, the sharp drop in the number of cases reported in 2003 all over India is a commendable public health achievement. India is among the last seven remaining nations in the world where polio is still endemic. The majority of polio cases reported worldwide are from India. A reduction from 1,600 reported cases of polio in 2002 to just 190 till November 2003 shows the Government responded swiftly to contain what could have turned into a large-scale crisis through an intensified national immunisation programme. But there can be no letting down of the guard yet. While Uttar Pradesh and Bihar account for most reported cases, the emergence of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as the two new “hot zones” for the disease and the detection of two cases over the last month in Tamil Nadu, also a polio-free State since 2000, are worrying developments. As long as the wild polio virus exists anywhere in India, the risk of it spreading to areas considered free of the disease will remain. Since polio is completely eradicable, even one case of polio is a case too many.

The hardy polio virus lives in the human intestine, is ejected into the environment through excreta, and spreads by contact with fecal matter. The disease strikes mainly children, cripples the limbs, and is sometimes fatal. Children living in crowded and insanitary conditions without access to clean drinking water are particularly vulnerable to it. This is why a bombardment of the virus through a synchronised mass immunisation of children in the zero to five age group — such as the one carried out nationally on January 4 — with the oral polio vaccine is considered the best way to ensure zero incidence. India has done this since 1996 but a cutback in planned immunisation in 2002 was the main factor behind that year’s polio resurgence in Uttar Pradesh. It pushed back the goal of a polio-free India and a polio-free world from 2005 to 2007. This year the Government is reported to be considering holding five nationwide immunisation days as against the usual two annually. Such a decision, despite the costs involved in conducting such an exercise, will be timely. The benefits of total eradication, which will eventually include savings on the massive national expenditure in fighting the disease, far outweigh the expenditure. In order to be effective, national immunisation days must cover as many as possible of India’s 165 million children under the age of five years. Superstition and fallacies about the effects of the oral polio vaccine still stop many parents from getting their children vaccinated. The involvement of voluntary organisations such as Rotary in a door-to-door campaign to build awareness has helped immensely but educating people about the disease and the vaccine remains a key challenge for the Government.

Simultaneously, the Government must ensure that the focus on planned immunisation does not distract attention from routine immunisation through which new-born children get four oral polio vaccine doses from zero to three months. With 15.5 million children born every year in India, routine vaccination is the only way to prevent gaps in immunity from developing. As Tamil Nadu has shown, much also depends on surveillance. The early detection of the two cases reported in the State enabled health officials immediately to immunise all children in those two areas. The Union Health Minister, Sushma Swaraj, wants zero incidence in India in 2004 so that the country can be declared polio-free after the waiting period of three years. The goal is within reach. It must not be allowed to slip away this time.

© Copyright 2000 – 2003 The Hindu

http://www.thehindu.com/2004/01/20/stories/2004012001691000.htm