In Almaty, medical institutions are being inspected for accessibility for people with disabilities.
According to Bes.media, the monitoring is being carried out as part of an instruction for public oversight of the quality of public service provision under the “Қадамдық жоспар”.
Participants include: specialists from the public services department of the Almaty Civil Service Affairs Agency, the chair of the “Podranki-Sharasyzdar” NGO for People with Disabilities, and a member of the project office of the Ombudsman for the Rights of Socially Vulnerable Groups under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Galiya Tobatayeva, as well as people with disabilities.
During the monitoring, the following violations and inconsistencies were identified in some medical facilities:
- Most parking spaces for people with disabilities lack markings on the asphalt and are often occupied, especially those located in the general car park.
- There are no signs in the foyer indicating priority service for people with disabilities.
- Incomplete navigation for people with disabilities: no signs to toilets. Ramps without handrails.
- Some institutions lack self-service areas, and reception desks are high, inaccessible to wheelchair users.
- Toilets for wheelchair users are cramped; some have no clear space in front of the washbasin, toilets are installed a step above floor level, and light switches are higher than the established standards.
- In some places, there were carpets on the floors, which impede the movement of wheelchair users, and blind patients cannot navigate using the special yellow tactile paths because of them.
As a result, the management of several hospitals and clinics were given recommendations to address the shortcomings.
“We constantly conduct monitoring not only of medical organisations, but of all service providers in Almaty. We invite the media, the public, and people with disabilities to see for themselves. If there are any shortcomings, we send recommendations for their elimination. We note for ourselves that we have carried out the monitoring, given recommendations, and return in about a month to check on implementation. We do a post-control check. If it is not carried out, we contact higher authorities and pass on information about these facts,” said Maksat Zhanbyrshiyev, head of the public services department of the Almaty Civil Service Affairs Agency.
In turn, member of the project office of the Ombudsman for the Rights of Socially Vulnerable Groups, Galiya Tobatayeva, said that some medical facilities responded promptly to their comments and provided photo reports of the corrections within three days.
“According to the law on public services, service providers are obliged to create conditions for people with disabilities when they receive public services and to provide them in accordance with approved standards. Information about public services must be displayed on stands so that people can see what services they are entitled to receive at the medical facility. People with disabilities should receive services fully, without experiencing difficulties or discomfort. No one is demanding anything out of the ordinary. There is a law that must be complied with,” said Galiya Tobatayeva.
It is worth recalling that in 2022 in Taldykorgan, the executive secretary of the AMANAT party branch, Amanzhol Zhazykbayev, decided to personally test the quality of a pharmacy’s ramp, but during the check he overturned in a wheelchair. Unsurprisingly, people with disabilities regularly complain about the lack of necessary infrastructure. After all, year after year, nothing changes.