PADA recovers around KD 275K from disability plaintiffs: official

9,000 disabled students benefit from educational support

KUWAIT CITY, March 27: The Acting Deputy Director General for Educational and Rehabilitation Services at the Public Authority for Disabled Affairs (PADA) Mubarak Al-Badah affirmed that approximately KD 275 thousand have been fully recovered from the disability plaintiffs.

Al-Badah explained that 62 cases of disability claimants were discovered. They were granted disability certificates after they forged their medical reports. All of them were referred to the Public Prosecution, which in turn referred them to the Criminal Court.

One of them, which included 7 cases, was decided by a final ruling from the Court of Cassation. The other case is still pending before the Criminal Court and is reserved for judgment at the session of March 31, 2024. The cases were discovered in 2019.

Regarding the educational file, Al-Badah explained that the number of students benefiting from the PADA’s educational support is about 9,000 disabled students.

PADA is progressing, according to article 11 of Law No. 8/2010, to accept scholarship applications for students with disabilities by providing seats for them in coordination with the Ministry of Higher Education.

PADA provides a wide range of services to people with disabilities and their families, and aims to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities and provide them with the necessary support in various aspects of life.

It classifies disabilities into motor, physical, visual, hearing, mental, psychological, developmental, and educational disabilities. Their degrees vary from simple, moderate, and severe.

PADA issues disability certificates of all kinds according to the condition of the person with disability. They could be motor, physical, visual, auditory, mental, psychological, developmental, or educational disability. The duration of the certificates is between three years to five years depending on the case. In some cases, PADA issues life-time certificates.

Regarding prosthetic devices, Al-Badah said the authority has issued a tender for the supply of prosthetic devices and to provide them to people with disabilities according to their condition.

He indicated that they are awaiting the completion of the tender procedures with the Central Agency for Public Tenders.