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Help for the disabled in North - East

by Nadira Gunatilleke

The Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Program for the disabled will be further extended to cover the North and East too under the direction of Social Welfare Minister Ravindra Samaraweera. It is believed that between 12 and 15 percent of the total population of the North and East are war related disabled. Under the CBR program, they will be rehabilitated while keeping them within their families, Social Welfare Ministry Secretary Vijayalakshmi Jagarasasingam told the Daily News yesterday.

She said that Rs.11 million have been allocated for the CBR program this year. Operational committees have already been set up in the Jaffna district under the supervision of Minister Samaraweera and these committees will be set up in the Vavuniya and Kilinochchi districts on August 5th and 6th.

According to Social Service Officer Shantha Kumara, attached to Ministry, the LTTE has extended its fullest support towards the implementation of this project in Kilinochchi. A complete survey on this matter is going on at the moment and the exact number of disabled persons will be ascertained after the survey. Programs will be planned in keeping with the data compiled under this survey. The CBR is one of the most successful programs implemented by the Social Welfare Ministry to rehabilitate disabled persons within their family background.

The CBR program has detected 89,649 disabled persons in the country of which 32,385 have already been rehabilitated. 5685 volunteers have been involved in this program and 112 of them are disabled volunteers. So far, 176 Divisional Secretariat divisions in 19 districts have been covered by this program.

Under the CBR program the community bears the responsibility of up keeping the disabled and helps them to lead normal lives. In each area, the process is handled by a committee comprising community leaders such as the Viharadhipathi of the village temple, principal of the village school, family planning officer and the Social Service officer.

Some of the other objectives of the CBR program are preventing childhood disabilities, early detection of disabilities and conducting awareness and training programs for the community.

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