House panel flags issues with UDID card for persons with disabilities

A parliamentary standing committee has stressed the need to resolve bottlenecks in medical assessments of people with disabilities (PwDs), recommending the inclusion of private medical professionals to expedite their certification, and highlighted the delay in setting up of a national university on disability studies in Assam, which was announced a decade ago.

The Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment, in its report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday, pointed out that while the Unique Disability ID (UDID) project — aimed at providing comprehensive and verifiable identity cards to PwDs to access government benefits — has successfully generated around 11.8 million cards, its implementation continues to face challenges due to a shortage of medical professionals, inadequate hospital infrastructure and a large backlog of pending applications at hospitals.

“To address these issues, the Committee recommend that the Department work in close coordination with state governments to strengthen medical infrastructure, expedite the inclusion of private medical professionals in the certification process, and ensure the availability of well-equipped facilities for disability assessment,” the panel report said.

It further said the department of disability affairs should facilitate specialised training programmes for medical authorities to improve efficiency in issuing disability certificates and reduce delays.

The panel in its report also flagged prolonged delay in establishment of National University of Disability Studies and Rehabilitation Sciences at Kamrup in Assam. Noting that the university, first announced in 2015-16, has faced delays due to issues of land allocation and approvals, the panel said its establishment should be expedited.