Mumbai's first school for paediatric patients with special needs was launched at Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital last week. The hospital receives around 1,200 differently abled children as patients every year.

Special facilities for special needs
"These differently abled paediatric patients, including autistic children, are slow learners. They need special attention and care in their education and training to live a self-sustained life. Also, their treatment goes on for years, and they need to visit the hospital on a nearly daily basis. Thus, we thought of starting a school system at the hospital that would run till 5 pm on weekdays, like other schools," said Dr Mini Bodhanwala, CEO of Wadia hospital. Currently, it has the capacity to cater to 40 such patients at a time on the weekdays.