1,346 beneficiaries of services from 44 civil and private centers.. Assistant Undersecretary of Rehabilitation and Welfare at the Ministry of Social Development: Keenness to continue enhancing the lev

18-08-2024

Ms. Zainab Salman Al-Awainati, Assistant Undersecretary of Rehabilitation and Welfare at the Ministry of Social Development, affirmed the Kingdom of Bahrain's keenness to continue supporting persons with disabilities and preserving their rights to ensure comprehensive protection for them, in addition to strengthening community partnership with official, civil and private sectors to advance this category and raise the level of services provided to them. The Assistant Undersecretary of Rehabilitation and Welfare explained that within the framework of the Kingdom of Bahrain's interest in the rights of all persons with disabilities, the Ministry of Social Development launched a package of projects, initiatives and programs that were included in the executive plan of the National Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for the years 2023-2027 to represent an integrated vision and framework and a national commitment to the necessary support and assistance to empower this category and integrate them into society, based on the Kingdom of Bahrain's commitment to relevant international agreements and conventions in a manner that contributes to ensuring societal equality. Al-Awainati pointed out that one year has passed since the launch of the executive plan for the National Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities since July of last year 2023, and confirmed in this regard that a team has been formed to monitor and follow up on the initiatives and projects of the executive plan, which includes representatives from all governmental and civil entities concerned with implementing the plan, where the progress of the plan is reviewed periodically and the aspects of progress made and the challenges facing the implementation of the included projects and initiatives are identified, as well as the periodic review process of the percentages of performance indicators to ensure effective evaluation, in addition to issuing periodic reports on the progress made and the percentages of achievement for all axes to ensure highlighting the efforts provided to persons with disabilities in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Assistant Undersecretary of Rehabilitation and Welfare stated that according to the statistics of the first half of this year 2024 AD, the number of civil centers reached (16) centers benefiting (627) people, while the number of private centers reached (28) centers benefiting (719) people with disabilities, noting that these centers are distributed across all governorates of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Assistant Undersecretary of Rehabilitation and Welfare noted the joint coordination between the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Interior to train people with disabilities to obtain a free driving license, which comes in accordance with the provisions of Law No. (74) of 2006 regarding the care, rehabilitation and employment of people with disabilities, and Law No. (23) of 2014 issuing the Traffic Law, in addition to enhancing cooperation and joint coordination with governmental and civil sectors, in order to provide the necessary protection for people with disabilities and develop various programs to care for and rehabilitate them and enable them to contribute to construction and participate in social development, alongside various sectors and groups of society. Al-Awinati pointed out the importance of people with disabilities updating their ID cards with their disability icon, to be able to benefit from the qualitative privileges that holders of the new ID card receive, most notably benefiting from discounts from a number of institutions and shops, which reach about* 180 government and private entities, in addition to obtaining a sticker for parking spaces for people with disabilities from the General Traffic Department, explaining that this step embodies the joint keenness to provide all possible facilities and provide the best services that serve the interests of all segments of society, and also reflects the existing partnership and cooperation between the Ministry and government and private institutions and bodies in order to keep pace with modern technologies and systems, which contributes to implementing national initiatives and projects to increase effectiveness and improve performance efficiency in the interest of citizens.