Public consultation open for the 10-year plan for rehabilitation services

Choi Siu Un (center)

The Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) opened the public consultation period on their 10-year plan for rehabilitation services on Friday.
In a press conference held at the IAS facilities, the plan for the period 2016 to 2025 was presented to the press at which time it became public and open to comments and suggestions.
Under the theme “Create a society based on equal rights and cohesion,” the plan, which will be under public consultation until May 30, establishes goals at 3 different levels (short term, mid-term and long-term). All goals focus on obtaining achievements in 13 different areas, as said Choi Siu Un, Head of the Department of Social Solidarity of the IAS.
The plan has been in preparation since the end of 2013 by the “Interdepartmental study group for the ten-year planning and development of rehabilitation services” in collaboration with a team from the City University of Hong Kong. Among the extensive list of goals and objectives to be achieved by this “action plan” is a particular focus on the area of Medical Rehabilitation wherein there is a goal to “Reinforce the technical training of the health care professionals […]through the revision of the Legal Qualifications and Registration for Health Care professionals and the creation of a Faculty of Medicine in Macau.”
Education is also an important focus of the plan, as it sets goals to “provide adequate financial support to schools for an integrated education.”
Another of the goals set within education is “to introduce, from 2016, interpretation in sign language for all education-related information, including on website pages of the Social and Youth Affairs Bureau [DSEJ].”
The vast and comprehensive plan also aims to promote changes in Public Housing design and construction, setting “instructions for the conception and construction of  barrier-less public housing,” seeking to improve the lives of the physically handicapped.
These rules and instructions would also extend to other areas of public life such as “market places, streets and flyovers and for pedestrian subways.”
Another area for development is the Application of the Information and Communication Technologies, highlighting the goal to “support the development and provision of audio-description.
In total, the plan lists 347 items with most (44 percent) goals to be achieved during 2016 and 2017.