Parents of children with disabilities went on hunger strike
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Friday, May 22
Parents of children with disabilities have held a rally in front of the Government Chancellery and demanded a meeting with the Prime Minister, Irakli Gharibashvili. They went on hunger strikes and do not intend to end the protest if their demands are not met.
According to them, due to their lack of social status, their access to various social services has been restricted.
Parents stated that according to their information, from June 1, they will not be able to leave their children in Day Care Centres because the government refused to issue them with special vouchers.
“We will continue our hunger strike, we have no other choice. The money amount that is given to us by the government as a pension per month is not even enough for medicine. We will not be able to work if the Day Care Centre refuses to receive our children; that automatically means we will not be able to feed and take care of our children,” stated one of the parents.
Deputy Head of the Prime Ministers Administration and the representative of the Social Service Agency (SSA) met with the protesters.
According to SSA representative Mari Tsereteli, parents have the wrong information due to the wrong communication, and all the children who attended Day Care Center will receive the vouchers and be able to use the service further.
“In fact, we have increased the amount of benefit aid. Instead of the 42 children that we had last year, this year we will take care of many more children. We have increased the budget for children with severe and profound mental health issues, and so parents have no reason to worry,” stated Tsereteli.
