Jordan PM orders new facilities for disabled persons

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour has instructed all ministries and public offices to provide extra facilities to disabled persons and the elderly. In a circular issued today, Ensour asked governmental institutions to designate a customer service staff member in each ministry to be in charge of the paperwork of persons with special needs and old people, and to personally hand over their documents to them. The order was introduced at the initiative of Heba Khawaldeh, a finance ministry employee, herself a disabled, who proposed designating an office at each government agency to serve the disabled, the elderly and people with chronic diseases, in order to save them time and effort. Ensour had asked the Ministry of Public Sector Development to study the initiative and the feasibility for its adoption. On his part, the ministry had developed the initiative, ordering the appointment of a staff member at the ground floor of each department office to better serve the disabled and enable them to avoid having to climb the stairs to reach offices at higher floors. Khawaldeh has won the finance ministry's Distinguished Employee Award and other honours for her service to people with disabilities and injured military personnel.