An Aarogya.com Initiative

Captain Ashok Deshpande & Dr. Harinder Dhaliwal On 3 December 2000, a day that has come into significance as the International Day of the Disabled Person, Pune city took a major step towards making itself wheelchair friendly.

At 10:30 a.m. on this day, at the city’s popular Sambhaji Park on Jungli Maharaj Road, the Additional Commissioner of the Pune Municipal Corporation, Captain Ashok Deshpande invited Dr. Harinder Dhaliwal, an army doctor who lost power in both his lower limbs in an accident, to inaugurate the ramp which was specially built for the wheelchair-confined.

The ramp, one amongst many built at the park has been an initiative of www.aarogya.com India’s only health portal available for access in English, Marathi & Gujarati.

Deshpande Speaking at the inauguration function, Captain Deshpande appreciated aarogya.com’s efforts in creating health awareness & lauded its role in taking the wheelchair-friendliness initiative. He added that the PMC was recognizing aarogya.com as Pune city’s official health portal & that the PMC would work in close coordination with aarogya.com in matters relating to community health service and dissemination of health information.

Inauguration Later, Dr. Dhaliwal stressed that these wheelchair access ramps were absolutely necessary and they should be available all over the city even on roads and shopping malls. Captain Deshpande appreciated this need & promised to have ramps made on the entire stretch of the Jungli Maharaj Road upto Deccan Gymkhana at the earliest. He also added that this would be only a first step & that the PMC was committed to have similar ramps erected throughout Pune City.

The day also happened to be Dr. Dhaliwal’s birthday & he mentioned that no gift could be better than mobility for those confined to a wheelchair & dependent on assisted mobility.

Also present at the function were Mr. Tushar Sampat, Director, aarogya.com and the entire aarogya.com team.

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