Committee to evaluate disability care centres’ performance

AMMAN — Social Development Minister Wajih Azaizeh on Saturday decided to form a committee to evaluate the level of response of care centres for people with disabilities to service quality and standards requirements.

Azaizeh made the decision after an unannounced visit on Thursday to the Karak rehabilitation centre for people with disabilities to check on the condition of 141 residents who suffer severe mental disorders, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Following the visit, the minister highlighted the importance of encouraging qualified female personnel in medical, nursing and social work specialisations to join care centres, a step that can help increase women’s economic participation, the minister said.

Azaizeh called for using “untraditional” methods to enhance communication between care centre residents and their families, because it is a right guaranteed by the law, according to Petra.

Around 600 people with disabilities live in public care centres, while over 1,200 disabled people live in private centres, Ministry Spokesperson Fawaz Ratrout told The Jordan Times recently.

The ministry’s new regulations require families to sign a commitment to regularly communicate with their disabled relatives upon admission to care centres, and to visit them at the centres and host them at home during holidays, Ratrout highlighted.