Advocate queries disability policy

 The National Disability Policy developed in 2005 has never been integrated into any provincial or health plan, an advocate of people with disability Robert Banasi says.

Banasi brought the subject to the fore in the  “yumi go wer nau” programme by local radio station in conjunction with Kundu 2 and Communication Development Initiative (CDI).

The panel show last Wednesday was to bring the people face to face with their leaders and to ask them questions based on the health status in the province.

Banasi said though he thought the idea of the panel show was “very good”, the panel was void of the right people to answer the questions.

He said he raised his hand during question time so that an impaired person seated with him could speak.

“People living with disabilities are always never included or represented. This was not the first time a blind eye was turned on persons with disabilities in the province,” Banasi said.

He said in a population of about 490,000, 85% lived in the rural setting, with 15% estimated by the World Health Organisation as being people with disability.