Financial aid not for all disabled

Friday August 13, 2010
Financial aid not for all disabled

We refer to the letter “Aid for disabled comes with condition” (The Star, Aug 11).

The Department of Social Welfare wishes to clarify that information highlighted in the newspapers relating to financial assistance for disabled person was not clearly elaborated.

We wish to emphasise that registration does not automatically qualify for financial assistance as the eligibility is based on certain criteria as follows:

> The applicant must be a citizen of Malaysia.

> The household income is less than RM720 for Peninsular Malaysia, RM830 for Sarawak and RM960 for Sabah.

> Besides that, other factors that need to be considered during field visits to justify that the applicant comes under the category of poor and needy by looking at the number of family members, support from those living inside and outside of the family, number of family dependants, the health aspect of the applicant and other related factors.

We would like to stress that having Astro is not the criterion for assessing the eligibility of an applicant. We will look at the circumstances of the family as a whole to determine the need for welfare assistance.

Any inquiry can be directed to the Department for the Develop­ment of Persons with Disabilities at 03-2616 5600.

UNIT PERHUBUNGAN AWAM,
Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat.