DU: Disability certificate from 26 govt hospitals valid

New Delhi: Delhi University will only accept disability certificates issued by 26 notified government hospitals as valid, varsity officials clarified on Tuesday. Parents and aspirants queued up to clear their doubts about disability certificates at the open day programme at Kamala Nehru College.

Recently, Delhi government notified 26 hospitals where aspirants can get their disability certificates made. Bipin Tewari, officer on special duty at DU’s Equal Opportunity Cell, said, “The aspirants and the parents can visit the nearby hospital notified by the Delhi government and get the certificate.”

Shelendra Sethi was one of the parents present at the open day. His son suffers from Thalassaemia, a group of inherited disorders characterised by reduced or absent amounts of haemoglobin. Sethi’s son already has a disability certificate from a hospital under New Delhi Municipal Council, which was accepted by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). However, the university allegedly refused to accept the certificate for his son’s application to study in the BA programme.

“As per the rule, the certificate needs to be issued by Safdarjung Hospital, even though Charak Palika Hospital is also a government institute. However, Safdarjung Hospital refused to give us a certificate as we already have one. The last date of registration is June 14, and it will be very difficult to get a new certificate issued in such a short time,” Sethi said.

Some attendees at the open day had queries regarding assistance given to disabled applicants. “My daughter suffers from tunnel vision so I wanted to know whether DU will allow someone to accompany her in the campus until she is familiar with her surroundings,” said Poonam Takayar, a resident of south Delhi. Her daughter has scored 89.5% and she wants to study Sociology (Hons).