Prevention and rehabilitation of people with chronic mental or physical disabilities to help them adjust to social life are a high priority for the State Welfare Organization’s (SWO) Rehabilitation Center. “The center has focused its activities on decentralized rehabilitation by providing financial assistance and training to families of physically challenged persons,” said Yahya Sokhangui, deputy of rehabilitation affairs at the SWO.
Announcing a new program to be launched next month for home-based rehabilitation of disabled persons, Sokhangui said the program includes a monthly stipend of 1 million rials ($35) for the families who take care of their differently-abled members at home. Another program for family-based rehabilitation has been in place since 3 years, covering around 7000 people with disabilities, he said.
“Resources for rehabilitation exist in the families of disabled persons and in their communities. In helping the disabled, every effort should be made to enable them to live within their own communities and to support family and community groups who are working towards this objective,” ISNA quoted Sokhangui as saying.
To help the people with mental or physical disabilities, Sokhangui said 370 billion rials ($137 million) was allocated to buy equipment such as hearing aids for the deaf, white canes for the visually impaired, and wheelchairs or walkers for people with spinal cord injuries to help them adjust to social life. “Modern gadgets such as Braille printer, smart canes and motorized wheelchairs are other equipment the center seeks to provide the disabled,” he added.
Spinal Injuries Hospital
He also said a special hospital for spinal cord injuries will start work in Tehran soon. “The hospital is equipped with customized vans to transfer people with spinal injuries, providing them with services such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy and psychological therapy free of charge” he pointed out.
According to the official, the Protection Center of Spinal Cord Disabilities, a non-governmental organization supervised by the SWO will be invited to provide therapeutic services in the new hospital, and to enable patients to return to social life within 3-6 months.
“Currently 15,000 people with spinal cord injuries are registered with the SWO, 12,000 of whom receive a monthly stipend of 1.2 million rials ($45). The remaining will also receive stipend within a few months,” he added.
He also said 40 billion rials ($1.5 million) has been allocated by the SWO for cochlear implant subsidies, a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing.
