The Lagos State Government has said it will ensure the availability of sign instructors/interpreters at hospitals to assist persons with hearing and speech impairments get medical attention.

The Secretary to the State Government, Bimbola Salu-Hundeyin, said this on Wednesday in Ikeja, during the SSG’s meeting with the Secretaries to the Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas.

Mrs Salu-Hundeyin said that the state government would work with the body of local governments’ secretaries, also known as Scribe 57, to ensure inclusion of the hearing and speech impaired persons in the government’s agenda.

She said that having interpreters was a great way of ensuring that the impaired were not left behind in government’s interventions.

According to her, it has been discovered that in some hospitals, many persons with hearing and speech impairments are unable to communicate effectively with the doctors, and that can lead to several errors.

”This, maybe, leads to giving wrong medications, things that are not right and all that. So, they also deserve whatever any able bodied person deserves. If you are talking of disabilities, not just physical, as you see them, a lot of them have abilities in them, so we should not lose them.

”Having sign instructors is a great way to reach to the people. The THEMES+ agenda of Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second term in office, this administration, talks about inclusivity. The “plus” there means inclusivity, first, then we have gender equality and youth development. So if we are going to run an inclusive government, nobody should be left behind. That is what it means.

”The fact that people cannot talk or they cannot hear, it does not mean; once they are human beings, they cannot be left behind. This is a determination, and this is a policy of this administration. No one must be left behind,” she said.

The SSG said that society appreciated them and the government wanted them to also lead a healthy life, hence, the need for sign instructors who will be at the hospitals.

”This will also probably become a law later, but we must start from somewhere. So that is what we are doing, and Mr Sanwo-Olu wants this done as well, because he caters for everybody in the state,” she said.

Mrs Salu-Hundeyin also urged the “Scribe 57” to assist in addressing the issue of drug abuse at the various local governments

”We are doing quite a lot in various communities; we begin to identify those who are on it. We are trying to send them to homes so that they will be helped and those that we know that are not so bad in it, we tried to dissuade them from it. Schools are being taught the disadvantages of drug abuse, we are using education, we are using community people, we are using the CDAs, the CDCs, and all hands are on deck. Even the NDLEA, we hold meetings with them and we are insisting that once they get these drugs, we want to see how they are destroyed, so that they don’t go back into society,” she said.

Also speaking, the Chairman of Scribe 57, Akeem Dauda, said that data remained the foundation of any policy in any organisation.

Mr Dauda said that the secretaries would be making data on the person with hearing and speech impairments from the local government areas available to the state government by Thursday, May 2.

He also said that the Scribe 57 would also present its report on drug abuse to the SSG, while commending the security agencies for working with them to curb such menace.

(NAN)