Disabled woman pleads for welfare assistance as new year resolution
MIRI: A polio patient, Chai Jan Chin, 66, has just one wish for the New Year – to successfully apply for welfare aid for herself and her partially-blind mother, Liu Chang, 90, who also suffers from cerebral atrophy – a condition where the brain gradually shrinks with age and can cause short-term memory loss.
Chai suffered from a high fever at just six months old and was later diagnosed with polio.
“Since young until six years ago, I was still mobile, and able to make a living by helping my family’s coffee shop business. Back then, even though my legs might not have been strong, they were adequate to handle the day-to-day routine,” she told thesundaypost.
Six years ago, she began to suffer muscle atrophy and could no longer move about without a walking frame.
Her condition has declined so much that she is even unable to do simple house chores.
“Basically every day, if I do not have to go to the polyclinic, I can only sit around the house because there isn’t much I can do,” she explained sadly.
Chai’s 52-year-old brother, who does odd jobs, is now the family’s sole breadwinner.
“I was diagnosed with glaucoma several years ago and underwent emergency surgery to save my sight. My mother, who was diagnosed with cataracts, was left partially blind after a surgery,” Chai said.
“Now my mother and I have to visit Tudan Polyclinic on a monthly basis for doctor’s appointments. The transport van, medication that I have to get at a local pharmacy that costs about RM50, as well as our household expenses add up to nearly RM1,000 a month.”
About four years ago, a friend helped Chai to apply for welfare assistance.
“All the documentation, including my OKU (disabilities) card, medical record etc, were included in the application. Still, my application was never approved without explanation.
“I was told by my friend that one of the reasons my application for welfare assistance was rejected could possibly be because of my house. But the house was bought many years ago under a lowcost housing scheme, under my brother’s and my name. I tried to explain to them every time the rejection letter came, but to no avail,” she said.
Currently, Chai receives the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) for the disabled.
“Though I get RM400 three times in a year, at least it could help to ease the household expenses. I am really thankful for the BR1M because it has helped what the Welfare Department has denied me,” she said.
Chai hopes the government reviews her case.
“I am not begging for welfare assistance, but hope that the government could see how its policy and requirements have denied people of the assistance and help that they need desperately,” she said.
“If I am going to apply again for the welfare assistance, it would be my fifth time next year, and I really hope that the Welfare Department would give attention and show mercy for my case, because my life savings are depleting and I see no other way of surviving.”