Government failing disabled, say NCPD
According to a recent poll, the organisation said the state's health department was failing people with disabilities.
THE state is failing persons with disabilities – and it costs lives. That’s according to the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD). The NCPD said a poll in 2016 showed that in all nine provinces, the provision of assistive devices to persons by the state healthcare system falls far short of what is needed.
“Some people never receive assistive devices, and others languish on waiting lists for years. Some regions do not provide assistive devices at all,” said a statement by the NCPD.
The NCPD went on to say that the government is not living up to their constitutional responsibility to provide healthcare, not to discriminate against persons with disabilities and therefore they are in ‘gross violation’ of their human rights.
“The consequences of having to go without these essential devices are tragic, severely impacting on the quality of life of thousands of persons with disabilities. It impacts their independence, well-being, dignity, optimal functioning, inclusion in society, their ability to work and even something as basic as the ability to move around,” said NCPD national director Therina Wentzel.
The poll also showed, claimed the NCPD, that in some cases, the lack of provision of assistive devices leads to the death of persons with disabilities’.
Wentzel went on to say that the organisation ‘demands that government lives up to its Constitutional obligations, and takes urgent action to provide assistive devices to persons with disabilities’, calling it ‘long overdue’.
