Egypt's Interior Ministry signing a protocol with Communication and Information technology ministry on Monday July 9, 2018 (Photo: courtesy of Egyptian Interior Ministry)
Egypt's Interior Minister Mahmoud Tawfik signed a protocol of cooperation with Communications and Information Technology Minister Amr Talaat on Monday to facilitate services at the interior ministry for citizens with special needs, a statement read.
According to the protocol, the communications ministry will make available modern technology for service departments at the interior ministry, to facilitate the provision of services for people with special needs through electronic applications, interactive touch screens, and computerised public information for citizens with vision, speech and hearing impairments.
One new application allows the conversion of sign language to written text, without the need for an interpreter, and is user-friendly for blind citizens.
Tawfik highlighted the ministry's commitment to strengthening frameworks with all state institutions to develop the interior ministry’s services, as part of a broader strategy of developing and modernising public services, to secure for citizens with special needs all their due services and rights.
Talaat hailed the new cooperation with the interior ministry, which he said will facilitate the process of obtaining state documents such as social status certificates, passports and work permits for blind, deaf and mute citizens, in order to strengthen the process of integrating citizens with special needs in society.
The protocol was signed by the assistant minister of interior for the media and relations section, Major General Khaled Hamdy, and Abeer Shakwir, an adviser to the minister of communications and information technology.
According to a 2017 report by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistic (CAPMAS), citizens with disabilities constitute 10.7 percent of the total Egyptian population of 104 million.
Article 81 of the 2014 constitution stipulates that the state must guarantee the health, economic, social, cultural, entertainment, sporting and educational rights of persons with disabilities.
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