Family members of disabled people say that the financial assistance they receive is insufficient

Ramush Gashi has been forced to leave work to care for his most disabled daughter. The monthly payment received is insufficient even for mandatory medical services and let go of it for a caregiver.

That financial assistance is insufficient for disabled persons, they also say at the “Handikos” association in Pristina. According to them, currently, 150 euros are offered for a caretaker, which is very little value.

Gashi, who says he currently receives 375 euros a month of assistance, stresses that it is insufficient to cover expenses for his daughter and leave it to pay even a caretaker. Hence, he has been forced to stop work so that his daughter is near him.

“State support is not satisfactory is little for children with limited capacity. The salary is not enough to be told is a small help. The door at school has taken care of me, and now about a year is about to come when a nurse doesn't complete her schedule because she stays with my child for only two hours, and the teacher cannot handle (only) that there are other students. Out of school hours, I take care of my daughter, I had to stop working because of her, because she needs a sitter because we can't leave... 375 euros says it's for the sitter, but this fee doesn't only come up with the girl, not just to stay for the sitter.”, Gashi claims.

Gashi tells Kosovo that only one exercise session his daughter needs costs 20 euros, without counting other needs.

The demands we take for children are insufficient because the girl needs to exercise that costs 20 euros to an exercise a day that spends half the month on payment, as well as many other items that her disabled children need. They don't go out for any other stuff, other drugs and needs”, Gashi says.

Even Faruk Kukay, a disabled person, is dissatisfied with the state's payment. He says that at this height, you can't even find care that they need 24 hours to do.

And it's pre-plegic and traplegic pension and we have a little bit of the first 150 euro category with limited skills, while the personal assistant and who needs medical care is 75 euros that is very absurd or ridiculous, because the personal assistant that needs to be cared for 8 hours a day or 24 hours' worth of payment is not even for 2 hours a day. And as a pension it's too small we have the cost of a more spent life because we have more care of”, says Kukaj.

Association director “Handikos”, Africa Maliqi, confirms that payments received by the state do not meet their needs.

He says those with limited abilities have been forced to cover almost most of their expenses on their own, as the state does not cover for them anything.

“We have made efforts at several financial schemes, which with those disabled persons must buy at all rehabilitation services, general medications even have to pay the manager, who is insufficient. Limited persons are free only from basic medical checkups, while all other expenses must be purchased daily, their condition needs daily medicine”, Malchi says.

Maliqi says that those with limited abilities do so only by means of family members who must sacrifice their jobs.

The “We are thankfully living with families and caring for family members, but always one of them has to remain unemployed to care for the member, otherwise the 150 salary for a caretaker is insufficient even to pay hundreds of euros. In this case many should have two or three more stewards. The overall assessment of disabled persons is not becoming fair and should be more professional”, Maliqi says.

Maliqi adds that disabled persons are challenged in every area of life, while calling for better health and rehabilitation services from the state.