Press House & The (NCCR) .. Organize A Special Meeting For Disable People

Gaza, Tues, April 22 --- In cooperation with the National Center for Community Rehabilitation (NCCR), Press House organized a meeting in its main office, titled " Handicapped and Official", in the presence of tens of people with disabilities and their families.

Safwat Diab, the executive manager of the NCCR, opened the meeting with a word, in which he stressed the center commitment to serve the issues of people with disabilities from all categories; as it is one of the most important categories in the Palestinian society in need for help to obtain their rights through the implementation of their law.

Diab emphasized the hard impact the siege imposed on the strip had caused to disable people, especially on the associations supporting them, which suffer from great pressure and financial difficulties; as a result of directing most subsidies to Syria and other Arab countries.
Omar El-Darby, advisor of the minister of social affairs in Gaza, introduced the financing programs the ministry provide to people with disabilities, including in-kind and financial assistance programs.

Noting that the ministry provides 23 million dollars every three months to 61 thousand poor families, from three donors: The European Union, The World Bank, and The Palestinian National Authority.

While about the services provided by the ministry, El-Derby said:"The ministry had provided income to 29 thousand of disable people, who didn't have a source of income, beside providing other types of subsidies like health insurance, free education, and the provision of eclectic and mobile wheels through the convoys came to Gaza."

Regarding the activation of the law for people with disabilities, El-Derby ensured that the ministry is still following this file, and that the procedure for implementing the law needs great effort and high budgets; to provide identification cards to disable people which will provide them all the medical, financial and educational subsidies.

Referring to the launch of several projects for them in the next month.
For his part, the wounded journalist "Moemen Faiez", stressed the need to show greater media attention to the people with disabilities, calling all the segments of the Palestinian society to provide them support and help, and noting to the necessity of implementing their law.

At the end of the meeting, the door was open to the people with disabilities to discuss their prevailing issues with the representative of the ministry.

The most important issues raised were the difficulty of reaching the field workers in the ministry, lacking the rehabilitation of  many official buildings in a way that suits the people with disabilities, as well as lacking the income-generating projects for them.