IAS announces new facilities for mentally handicapped

The Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) announced that new facilities for people with severe mental disabilities will be available by the end of this year, TDM reported.
According to IAS, the new facilities will provide 96 vacancies, a lower figure than the 118 which commenced operation in the beginning of this year at Seac Pai Van. These services exist to release pressure from aging parents who have children in need of special care.
However, local charity workers hold contrary opinions on these help programs. Lio Sao Wa who is in charge of the Association of Families and Caretakers of the Mentally Disabled told the Times that this new building is “not suitable, and not humanitarian.” She explained: “100 vacancies is just a number to meet demand.”
In her words, the facilities should only accept 50 people at most. The larger the facility community is, the more difficult it becomes to provide good assistance. “The management becomes rigid, people have limited [access to] activities, […] it is difficult to handle emergencies,” Lio told the Times.
According to Miss Lio, the program was announced five years ago when demand for such institutions was higher, adding that in the 70s and 80s, local facilities for mentally disabled people only had around 30 places each.  “Taiwan and Japan both limit their number of places to around 50, therefore these new facilities are against socialization and are not humanitarian,” Lio repeated. Small communities allow for better communication between patients and doctors, she noted.
However, director-general of the Macau Association for the Mentality Handicapped, Gloria Ma agreed with the program. “It unloads the endless worries off the parents,” she said. Miss Ma added that “more attention should be paid to both the facilities and environment, in order to ensure the disabled people are respected and fully protected.”  Staff reporter