An official government source said that President Mohamed Morsy asked the National Council for the Disabled to do a formal count of the real number of people with disabilities in Egypt, in order to assist their employment in the government.
The count willl identify the disability of each person in order to grant them jobs that suits their circumstances.
Morsy’s instructions came after a document issued by the National Council for the Disabled revealed that the number of people with physical disabilities in Egypt, according to a count performed by the World Health Organization, is about 13 million.
The official census of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics say that the number is only half a million, something which is attributed by Safwat al-Nahas, head of the Central authority Organization and Management, to the fact that some families do not want to disclose that they have physically disabled children, for fear of society's perception.
Al-Nahas told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the National Council for the Disabled assigned the census to the Ministry of Administrative Development to be completed before the end of this year.
He pointed out that the council is currently considering issuing a new bill for the rights of the physically disabled in accordance with international laws.
Former Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri established the council in 2012.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
