No visa hiring fees for disabled citizens

All citizens with disabilities are exempt from paying visa fees for expatriates they want to recruit, according to an official at the Local Council for the Development of Jeddah.
The council meeting was presided over by Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed who urged the relevant authorities to provide quality services for all persons living with a disability.
The secretary of the council, Mohammed bin Hamza Ein Aldeen, explained that a subsidy and specially equipped cars for about 24,988 people with disabilities have already been provided.
In addition, people with special needs are exempt from paying visa recruitment fees. So far, 4,666 people with disabilities have applied for this service, he said.
The council has reviewed the categories that a proposed rehabilitation center would accept. These would include those with double amputations, severe quadruple paralysis and muscle atrophy. It will also treat people with multiple disabilities, such as blindness and deafness, and mental disabilities with paralysis. Also, people with medium to severe mental disabilities, with less than 50 percent intelligence, will also be accepted provided they do not have psychological disorders, are free of infectious and contagious diseases and are also psychologically stable.
The council discussed programs to combat infectious diseases in Jeddah, which include national programs run by the Ministry of Health and the health system in general, which includes epidemiological monitoring of cases, and gathering of statistical data.
The council approved many recommendations including the establishment of a comprehensive rehabilitation center north of Jeddah for both men and women, with a capacity of 2,000 beds; a rehabilitation center with equal capacity east of Jeddah; and vocational rehabilitation centers in Jeddah for disabled people, to acquire skills that would contribute to their rehabilitation and self-reliance.
Ein Aldeen said there would be expanded daycare programs and the creation of four centers in Jeddah to accommodate cases where there is hope for improvement.