The Department of Social Welfare has registered 72 disabled persons in the Jirapa/Lambussie and Lawra Districts to benefit from micro-credit scheme to help improve their living conditions. Mr. Lawrence A. Azam, Upper West Regional Director of the Department of Social Welfare announced this at the inauguration of the Nadowli District Cross Disability Movement (NDCDM) at Nadowli. He said the department has also registered more than 50 indigenes at Jirapa who were benefiting from free medical care through the District Wide Health Insurance Scheme Mr. Azam was speaking on: "The role of the Department of Social Welfare in empowering persons with disabilities in the Upper West Region". He said 40 persons with disabilities in the Jirapa/Lambussie District were provided with loans through collaborative work of the department and Action for Disability and Development (ADD), an NGO. The Movement comprised physically, visually, and the hearing impaired as well as mentally ill and epileptic persons. It was formed in 1998 to serve as a pressure group to deliberate on issues affecting persons with disabilities, sharing of information among its members and partners and to build their confidence to advocate their rights. Mr. Azam said 25 persons with disabilities in the Wa West District have benefited from an agricultural rehabilitation project while 42 others received community based rehabilitation in craft work to make them functional. The department has registered fifty epileptic patients through Tumu Deanery Integrated Development Programme (TUDRIDEP) and supported them to acquire drugs for regular medication. Mobility training was given to the visually impaired on the use of the white cane and wheelchair and supported them to acquire equipment such as tricycles, white canes and walking aids. Mr. Azam said his department has also collaborated with NGOs for inventory credit and assisted persons with disabilities to access the two percent disability fund from the District Assembly Common Fund. The department was helping five disabled children with educational rehabilitation at the School for the Blind and Wa School for the Deaf. Ten other disabled children were being assisted to attend regular schools with support from the Lilian Fonds and TUDRIDEP through the initiative of the department in the Wa West District. Mr. Azam called on the government to establish a rehabilitation centre to provide the skill training needs of persons with disabilities in the region without referring them to other regions for training. He announced that the chief and elders of Guli in the Wa Municipality have donated a six-hectare piece of land to the department for the development of its institutions and called on the government to properly acquire the land to avoid litigation. Source: GNA