Vietnam needs more than VND3.29 trillion (USD160 million) to support people with disabilities during the next 10 years.

A carpentry class for the disabled at Minh Tam Vocational Centre in Hanoi\'s Thach That District. Some $160m is needed to support people with disabilities during the next 10 years. — VNA/VNS Photo Quy Trung

The need falls under a draft national plan to support people with disabilities in the 2011-20 period which was introduced for discussion yesterday by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs\' Social Welfare Department.

Viet Nam currently has about 6.7 million people with disabilities including 3.6 million women and 1.2 million children, according to the General Statistics Office.

The first national plan to support people with disabilities was launched in 2006. The four-year plan helped to raise public awareness about disabilities and offered support to the disabled in terms of health care, education and employment.

Under the plan, nearly 50,000 disabled people took job training courses and about 470,000 benefited from social welfare programmes.

Under the newly-introduced draft, at least 90 per cent of cities and provinces nation-wide will establish organisations run by and for disabled people by 2015. During that time, 80 per cent of disabled women will receive different kinds of support and 65 per cent of disabled children will have access to education and training.

Public facilities including hospitals, schools and transportation systems will be designed and remodelled to be friendly to the disabled.

Thirty per cent of the disabled will have access to telecommunications technology and all disabled people who want access to loans under the national programme on poverty reduction will get loans if they are eligible.

The draft targets job training and creating jobs for about 50,000 disabled people.

Ho Xuan Lai, deputy director of the National Co-ordination Committee for Disabilities, said that funding for the plan would be mobilised from the national budget ($58.5 million), locality budgets ($ 58.5 million), international support ($4.4 million) and relevant programme budgets ($39 million).

The draft focused on raising awareness about disabilities, establishing a database about people with disabilities, finalising policies and a legal framework for disabled people as well as supporting them with health care, job training and employment, said Lai.

Chairman of northern Nam Dinh Province\'s Association for People with Disabilities Nguyen Hong Phat said that it was also necessary to set up committees from central to local levels to monitor implementation of the plan.

He said that although the country had sufficient policies and a framework for the disabled, implementation was not consistent nation-wide.

Chairman of the Vietnam Blind People\'s Association Dao Soat agreed that the steering committees would force strict implementation of the plan by localities.

However, other experts wondered whether the establishment of committees at the locality level would require adding more staff and take away funds from directly benefiting the disabled.

Vice head of the ministry\'s Legal Department Ha Dinh Bon said that human resources also needed to be considered and the plan should be divided into sub-projects so that different ministries and sectors could be in charge of relevant activities.

However, many said that the move was not necessary and that the draft compilers should clarify the responsibilities of relevant ministries and sectors.

The ministry will submit the proposal to the Prime Minister at the end of the year for approval.