New Delhi: The ethnic riots which broke out in Manipur four months ago have left more than 50,000 people homeless who have been forced to shift to relief camps.
As many as 12,694 children are living in around 350 camps set up for displaced people in the violence-hit north-eastern state. Of them, 100 are severely traumatised, needing professional counselling, said a government release quoting data made available by the state Social Welfare department.
“Whenever they find such severely traumatised children, they will be identified, and taken to professional counsellors. We’ve done this for a little more than 100 children. We hope that this number does not increase and these traumatised children can go back to normal very soon,” said Ng Uttam Singh, director of Social Welfare department.
The department’s team of qualified medical practitioners and child psychiatrists have been providing professional counselling to those who are severely traumatised, the release stated.
“A child may not be traumatised immediately. But that trauma can come up after one week or a month,” Singh said.
Trained functionaries of the department identify stress-affected children at relief camps by employing ‘play and dance’ methods.
After the play and dance group exercise, children are asked to sketch/draw anything they like, the press release stated.
The state government is also actively monitoring severely malnourished children, who are being sent to the state-run JNIMS hospital in Imphal. As per the data, 16 children have been treated for being severely malnourished.
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