On Wednesday 3rd December 2014, Phuket Vice-Governor – Somkiat Sangkhaosutthirak presided over a ceremony which was held in recognition of 2014 Phuket Disability Day. The event, held at Phuket Rajabhat University, was also attended by officials from PPAO and other government agencies. PPAO President – Paiboon Upattising gave an opening speech together with President of Phuket Disability Council – Sawai Promjinda.
The International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which falls on December 3 of every year, has been designated by the United Nations to promote public awareness of the disabled and for the general public to acknowledge their existence. To celebrate the event, social activities aimed at increasing potential of this group of people are held.
Today, the world is beginning to acknowledge the rights of people with disability. The Thai government, a member of UN, gives importance to and support the disabled on a continued basis.
The concept for this year is “sustainable development” by which technology is developed to help with the disabled in three areas: reducing personal risks from disaster; building suitable work environment; and sustainable support.
Phuket provincial authorities, in collaboration with other agencies, have been organizing Disability Day celebrations continuously since 1995. This year the celebration took place from 7am – 3pm with activities such as donation of wheelchairs, service stalls giving legal, career and education advice, employment services, free haircuts and stage entertainment. Prizes were also given disabled participants of a drawing competition. Throughout the celebration, free food and drinks were provided for the disabled and their families, said Mr Sawai.
Forming the core of PPAO’s policy is the welfare of children, women, senior citizens as well as the socially deprived and the disabled. The program focuses on development of life quality of this demographic, and gave rise to projects such as Phuket Care, a mobile program that brings health care to the homes of the disabled and chronically ill.
Operated on a regular basis, Phuket Care is based on the motto “10,000-bed hospital for Phuket”. For the fiscal year 2014, PPAO has allocated 5,000,000 baht funding or this program, which includes visits to patient’s homes by medical personnel and volunteers, training programs for medical personal and volunteers, funding for medical and disability equipment. The target group of this program numbers around 1,032 patients. Additional funding for the disabled and the socially disadvantaged, which totals 10,646,200 baht for the fiscal year 2014, is as follows:
4,222,000 baht to Phuket Public Health Office to use towards developing heath care programs through visits and training of volunteers
300,000 baht to Phuket Sunshine Village
777,200 baht to Child Watch Phuket to use for Uncle Pitak program
47,000 baht towards organization of Disability Day celebration
To reinforce its commitment in this area, PPAO has signed a MoU with Thailand Disability Association as a pledge to support Phuket disabled people. All these works led to PPAO being awarded outstanding organization that cares for the disabled for the year 2013 from National Office for Empowerment of People with Disabilities.
“The celebration today shows that many agencies are aware of the importance of increasing quality of life of the disabled. The activity also forges understanding between people with disabilities and the rest of society,” concluded the President.
