Faster aid for the needy
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THE Women, Family and Community Development Ministry has decentralised the nation’s welfare system so that aid can reach the needy quickly.
Its minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen said there had been too much red tape in the previous system, which ultimately saw welfare applicants waiting months before their cases were approved or rejected.
“Now, we have decreased bureaucracy by decentralising the welfare system,” she told reporters at a Project Cari briefing and a Merdeka celebration dinner function in Ipoh on Tuesday.
Dr Ng said previously, a person had to first apply for welfare aid to a district welfare officer, who had to first investigate each case before submitting it to the state Welfare Department for further study and endorsement.
“Now, I have cut off that state endorsement. This means that the district welfare officers can immediately approve the aid at the district level.
Glad to meet you:Dr Ng greeting an MCA member at a Merdeka dinner celebration.“After all, once investigation at the local level is done, the con-dition is already known,” she said.
Dr Ng added that waiting for the state endorsement only meant doing the same work twice and this ate into too much time.
On Project Cari, Dr Ng said the ministry was working to search for those who were qualified to receive welfare aid but were not aware of it.
She appealed to NGOs, other organisations, assemblymen and MPs, to help identify these people.
Under the ministry’s welfare programme, four categories of people are entitled to receive welfare aid: senior citizens aged above 60 years who have no children, are living in poor conditions and earn a monthly income RM700 or less can receive RM300 monthly.
Children of poor families with a household income RM700 or less are liable to receive RM100 per child with a maximum of RM450 monthly.
A family with a household income of RM3,000 and below but comprises a member who needs full-time care and who is bedridden through a disease or through natural causes, the ministry will give aid of RM300 monthly.
The ministry will also give RM200 monthly aid to a disabled person who holds a job and earns RM1,200 or less monthly.
Last year, the ministry distributed RM160mil in welfare aid to some 150,000 people.