Workshop on child abuse held at Downtown Hospital

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: A one-day workshop on child abuse and neglect kicked off the 6th National Conference of Indian Child Abuse, Child Neglect and Child Labour Group of the Indian Academy of Paediatics (ICANCL) at Downtown Hospital on Friday morning. Earlier, the Chairperson of the Organising Committee, Shabina Ahmed, introduced the purpose of the workshop and welcomed the faculty and delegates.

The 3-day Conference, in collaboration with UNICEF, from 4 to 6 January, aims to uphold the role of integrated services for child protection and capacity building of all child care providers to meet the Sustainable Developmental Goals of 2030. The two parallel workshops were on “Child Sexual Abuse” (CSA) and the other on “Chemical Substance Abuse”, and were addressed by a wide range of national and international resource personnel. The CSA session provided insights into the magnitude of the problem and pediatricians, lawyers, psychiatrists, social activists showed the management strategies.

It involved medical assessment, forensic and legal aspects, interviewing a child and culminated by group activities and case discussions. Faculties involved were Rajeev Seth, President of the International Chapter of ISPCAN, Shaibya Saldanha from Bangalore, Sanjeev Lalwani,AIIMS, Pradip Kumar Thakuria, Amvalika Senapati from Guwahati, EmidioPinho, Lawyer, Goa and Yogesh Sarin, of Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi. The session on “Chemical Substance Abuse” encompassed the understanding of the multi-factorial causation, better appreciation of the warning signs and improved understanding about caregivers providing proper counseling in the recovery process. It also included topics on the street drugs abuse, psychiatric assessment, counseling strategies; a lively interaction with survivors provided a stimulating interaction. The faculties in this session were Rajesh Kumar, Executive Director, SPYM, Chiranjeeb Kakoty, Latika Bhalla, Delhi, Buli Nag Daimari, LGBRIMH, Tezpur and Psychiatrists Dhrubajyoti Bhuyan, Dibrugarh, and Deepanjali Medhi , GMCH, and activist Rabiul Islam from Centre for Substance Abuse Prevention & Care, Guwahati.

The participants belonged to a section of the society from doctors, lawyers, senior school children, teachers and NGOs, a press release stated.

Also read: 6th National Conference on child abuse from Jan 4 at NEDFI, Guwahati