Proposal for special body to streamline allocation for disabled

An organisation for disabled people has suggested that the government set up a special committee to streamline the allocation for disabled people under Budget 2015.

The Pertubuhan Pembangunan Orang Kurang Upaya (OKU) Malaysia said this would be helpful because several ministries managed the needs of disabled people in the country.

Its chairman, Faizal Yusuf, said it would be easier if one committee or body undertook the streamlining.

"I hope this matter will be given attention by the MPs when they debate the budget in the Dewan Rakyat," he told Bernama when contacted.

Faizal said the committee could serve as a one-stop centre for the disabled to raise their problems.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, when tabling Budget 2015 in the Dewan Rakyat today, announced an allocation of RM2.2 billion to the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development to help the needy.

Of the sum, RM1.2 billion in financial assistance was for poor families, children, senior citizens and the disabled.

Najib also said that the government agreed to increase the allowance for working disabled people, from RM300 to RM350. The financial assistance for non-working disabled people would be increased from RM150 to RM200.

This will benefit 110,000 disabled people and involve a sum of RM66 million.

Wheelchair-bound Mohd Fadzli Fadhillah, 37, who suffers from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), said he was grateful to the government although the increase in financial assistance was just RM50.

"What I had anticipated was for the government to give more focus to infrastructure for people like us to move about more easily," he said.