Gyeonggi Province faces backlash over cuts to ambulance support for disabled

[Anchor]

Today (Dec. 3) is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

To ensure the mobility rights of bedridden individuals with disabilities, local governments across the country are taking measures such as supporting the costs of private ambulances.

However, Gyeonggi Province is going in the opposite direction, and disabled individuals in the region are expressing their difficulties.

Reporter Koo Kyung-ha has the story.

[Report]

In June, the Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Center determined that not providing special transportation for bedridden individuals with disabilities is discrimination.

They recommended that measures such as supporting the costs of private ambulances for hospital visits be established.

Following Gyeonggi Province, human rights organizations in Incheon and Jeonnam Province reached the same conclusion and recommended corrections to local governments.

Chungnam and Gangwon Provinces began establishing measures before a decision was made, planning to support costs for private ambulances for bedridden individuals starting in the second half of next year.

However, Gyeonggi Province, which was the first to receive recommendations for remedy due to a human rights violation, has not accepted them and has been inactive in establishing measures for six months.

[Kang Tai-hyung/Gyeonggi Provincial Council Member: "It seems that there is no budget for bedridden individuals with disabilities in the 2025 main budget proposal. Is that correct?"]

[Nam Sang-eun/Gyeonggi Province Transportation Director: "Yes."]

Gyeonggi Province also estimates that the number of bedridden individuals needing mobility support is particularly low.

Incheon and Chungnam Province estimate the number of bedridden individuals with disabilities in the province to be between 500 and 600, while Gyeonggi Province, which has the highest number of registered individuals with disabilities in the country, reports only 315 bedridden individuals with disabilities, about half that number.

A human rights organization in Gyeonggi Province, which filed complaints with local governments across the country, expressed frustration that Gyeonggi Province is particularly neglecting bedridden individuals with disabilities.

[Lee Jae-won/Director of the Korea Human Rights Promotion Agency: "I cannot understand how things have come to this due to passive administration. If it were something that other local governments couldn't do, it would be understandable, but in the current situation, most are actively proceeding except for Gyeonggi Province."]

The National Human Rights Commission, along with Seoul, Chungbuk, and Jeonbuk, is also expected to soon decide whether limiting the use of call taxis for bedridden individuals with disabilities due to safety regulations constitutes discrimination.

This is KBS News, Koo Kyung-ha.