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Over 1,000 people with disabilities protest against social reforms in Prague, Brno

(CTK, 23.03.11) Over 1000 disabled and elderly people, their family members and supporters protested against the centre-right government's planned social care reform in Prague, according to police estimates, and about 200 held a similar protest meeting in Brno yesterday.

However, the organisers say some 3000 people participated in the rally in Prague held outside the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry.

It was organised by the National Disability Council (NRZP) that criticises the plans of Labour and Social Affairs Minister Jaromir Drabek (TOP 09).

The NRZP leadership warns that the reform would have a disastrous impact on the disabled.

However, the ministry argues that the planned measures are to secure a more efficient aid, prevent its abuse and simplify the system.

According to the NRZP, the planned measures are not to improve the position of the disabled but primarily to save finances.

NRZP chairman Vaclav Krasa called the proposals "an actual destruction" of support for the disabled and elderly.

Drabek addressed the demonstrators, trying to explain his intentions to them.

"The changes in the system which I propose are necessary and needed and a number of you know it very well," Drabek said.

He refuted the rumours that various benefits and advantages for the disabled would be abolished.

Health Minister Leos Heger (TOP 09) came to the rally to support his colleague. Both ministers then discussed the reform steps with the demonstrators.

The NRZP disagrees, for instance, with the planned change in the assessment of disabled persons' dependence on care, which is crucial in the decision-making on the financial contribution for care and its level.

The council expressed fears that some people might lose the benefits for care.

About 200 people yesterday met in Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, as well to protest against the prepared amendment to the law on social services.

The demonstrators defended the current system of benefits for the disabled, which, they said, helps them overcome  in life.

They also signed a petition against the government reform.

They raised objections, for instance, to the proposal for employing the disabled. They pointed out that it would liquidate sheltered workshops providing employment opportunities for people with disabilities and discourage  firms from employing them.

Source: http://praguemonitor.com/

Labour minister explains reform to protesting Czechs with disabilities

(ČTK, 21.03.11, Prague) Labour and Social Affairs Minister Jaromir Drabek (TOP 09) has sent an open letter to Czech disabled persons in which he explains his planned social reform ahead of a demonstration that will be organised by the National Disability Council (NRZP) on March 22.

The NRZP criticises Drabek's reform, saying it would have "disastrous consequences" for people with disabilities.

Drabek writes that his draft reform triggered emotional reactions that were sometimes based on untrue myths or incorrect information. Sometimes, however, these reactions were justified, he admits.

The NRZP said Drabek's reform would affect first of all the employment of the disabled, families caring for a severely disabled person and free choice of social services. Moreover, persons applying for any support from the welfare system would be in a humiliating position, the council said.

Drabek declares that he has reached agreement with the NRZP and the Charter of Social Enterprise group on several changes in the reform.

He dismissed the information that certificates for persons with severe disabilities, whose owners have the right for free public transport and special parking places, would be abolished.

Drabek said the present system would only be changed by a new one, with different identity cards.

Similarly, he says, several benefits will not be abolished but only modified.

Drabek writes that the state will continue to pay most of the costs of the special equipment that persons need to compensate for their disabilities. He says a person applying for such devices would pay maximally 10 percent of their price.

He also writes that the system assessing whether a person is entitled to receive benefits would be more simple thanks to the reform.

Source: http://praguemonitor.com/

Criteria for disability pension recipients to toughen

(Prague Monitor, Czech News Agency, Prague, 21.10.09) The criteria for the distribution of disability allowances will toughen as of January 2010 under a new directive issued by the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry, ministry spokeswoman Stepanka Filipova told CTK Wednesday.

Instead of the current system of full and partial disability pensions, the people who cannot work or whose work ability is limited as a result of their health handicap, will receive three types of pensions, under the directive, a part of the ongoing first phase of the Czech pension reform.

At present, the full disability pension goes to the disabled whose ability to work has declined by at least 66 percent. The new directive raises the limit to 70 percent, thus reducing the number of those eligible.

"The goal of the directive is not to save money on disabled people," Filipova said.

She said the current rules have become outdated as a result of medicine's development, and had to be adjusted.

According to expert studies by the Czech J.E. Purkyne Medical Society, new diagnostic and treatment methods have markedly improved the prognosis of what was formerly patients' unfavourable state.

"Modern medicine also diminishes the negative consequences [of treatment] and helps improve the quality of life and enhance [the patients'] ability to work," Filipova said.

Under the new directive, the partial disability pension, now going to the people whose work ability has decline by at least 33 percent in consequences of impaired health, will be divided into two categories.

Those whose work abilities are 35 to 49 percent lower will receive a lower pension than until now, while those with work abilities 50 to 69 percent lower will receive the sum which goes to the partially disabled now.

The changes are not to apply to the current recipients.

When assessing an applicant's eligibility to disabled pension, the authorities will consider to what extent and for how long his/her health trouble restricts his/her ability to work. The chance for the applicant's retraining and gaining a job will also be taken into account.

According to statistical figures, over 533,000 people in the 10-million Czech Republic received disability pensions this September. Out of them, 322,900 were full and 210,500 partial disability pensioners.

The average of the full and the partial monthly disability pension was 9,674 and 6,071 crowns, respectively.

The average monthly wage in the Czech Republic is about 23,000 crowns.

The number of disability pension recipients has been rising in the Czech Republic. In 2000, the authorities newly granted 39,000 of them, compared to 50,000 last year and 35,820 in the first quarters of 2009.

The rising number of disability pensioners is also due to the rising number of serious injuries with permanent consequences, including road accidents. Sometimes disability pension is sought by those who fail to gain a job for a long time.

Czech disabled want state to distribute disability subsidies

(Prague)The coalition of Czech organisations providing social services to the disabled disagree with the government's plan to transfer the power of decision-making on disability subsidies from the state to regions, Czech National Council of Disabled People chairman Vaclav Krasa told journalists today.

A proposal for the changes in the law on social services is part of the package of laws related to the government-sponsored finance reform that is to be debated in detail by the Chamber of Deputies in mid-August.

Krasa said that the rules that would allow to re-distribute subsidies in such a way that all disabled persons have an equal opportunity to receive state disability support had not been yet prepared.

The power of the provision of disability subsidies cannot be transferred to regions without prior corrections, he said.

"This year, the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry was able to made corrections in the regions' decision on subsidies that gave preference to certain service providers, but it will not be able to do so in the future," Krasa said.

Since the regions themselves are often the providers of bed facilities for the disabled and disability care they will find themselves in conflict of interests, chairman of the Health and Social Employees' Trade Union (OSZSP) Jiri Schlanger said, adding that due to unclear funding the regions would be unwilling to transfer the facilities managed by them to other providers.

The coalition fears that the transfer of powers would mean that out-patient facilities and associations that advise on the choice of services would continue to have access to disability subsidies. This would bring the process of transformation of beds in medical facilities to social care beds to a halt.

This will finally result in the limitation of the choice of social services that the law that has been valid for six months guarantees to the disabled.

Last Friday, coalition representatives met Labour and Social Affairs Minister Petr Necas who accepted their arguments. The coalition expects to hold talks with politicians on the need of changes in July.

Previously, Prime Minister of the three-party coalition government Mirek Topolanek (Civic Democrats, ODS) did not rule out the possibility of the changes in the reform package on condition that they are approved by all government parties.

Other members of the government are Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and the Green Party.

Source www.ceskenoviny.cz