Durban North school makes NHI request
AiA chairperson, Liza Aziz said there are too few experts in the field and a need for a holistic approach to patient management.
DURBAN North special needs school, Action in Autism (AiA) recently requested that Autism Spectrum Disorder be recognised as part of the prescribed minimum benefits of the National Health Insurance Bill.
While AiA notes that autistic patients are given priority in some places and some doctors prioritise treatment AiA chairperson, Liza Aziz said there are too few experts in the field and a need for a holistic approach to patient management.
“For the small percentage of people in our constituency that do have medical insurance, Autism Spectrum Disorder is not part of the prescribed minimum benefits of any scheme. Our community suffers because of this. Many services come out of day to day benefits, exhausting this meagre amount early in the year, with the main member having to cover the costs of most treatments. Therapies like speech-language therapy and occupational therapy are most often not covered by insurance and the medical and mental health of the community is exacerbated without these basic supports,” said Aziz.
Also read: School empowers autistic adults
“Currently this community is suffering immense health and psychological trauma. Our people need to be recognised as a vulnerable group that requires targeted support,” she added.
She added that the non-profit organisation has began lobbying the Department of Basic Education in 2005 to make provision for learners with autism.
“We continue to fight and lobby for the autism action operational plan to work from a social human rights paradigm, to ensure that learners with autism are afforded the same rights to education as all learners and as all learners with a disability,” said Aziz.
In addition to their early learning intervention and adult skills development programmes, AiA recently established a business hub and resource centre based at their Durban North premises said Aia director, Kirsty Miller.
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“The resource centre provides ongoing support to families and community members who support Autistic people. It is the only walk in resource centre in KwaZulu-Natal and as such provides pivotal service to a nationalised, vulnerable sector of society,” said Miller.
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