At wit’s end: Mohamad Shahfit says that with the centre’s closure, his son has no way to interact with other children.
JOHOR BARU: For the past four months, parents of 59 children with special needs have had to take leave from work and fork out extra money to care for them following the sudden closure of the Tun Aminah community-based rehabilitation centre (PDK).
One of the parents, Mohamad Shahfit A. Wahab, 33, is upset that his six-year-old son has no where to learn new skills and interact with other children with disabilities since the centre, located in Skudai here, ceased operations in February.
“My son suffers from Prader-Willi syndrome – a rare genetic disorder – and he now sits at home while my wife takes care of him.
“We were taken by surprise as there were no prior discussions with the parents before the closure of the centre.
“I was only informed in January by the PDK supervisor that the committee had failed to apply for the government’s grant that was needed to run the centre, which led to its closure,” he told The Star.
Mohamad Shahfit claimed that after checking with the Social Welfare Department (JKM), which oversees the operations of PDKs, he was told that the PDK committee could not apply for the grant as it allegedly failed to submit its audit report.
He also claimed that the centre’s closure had affected the salaries of its supervisor and teachers.
“Many parents who used to send their special needs kids to the centre have tried to contact the PDK committee to discuss the matter but were unsuccessful.
“The committee’s actions were irresponsible and had affected the PDK’s 59 children and their families as their monthly allowances were also cut as a result.
“We are not confident with the existing committee and hope that a new line-up can be appointed soon to solve the issue.
“Most importantly, we want our children to be able to return to the centre where they can continue learning and improving their skills,” he added.
Another parent Theresa Yap, 37, said she had no choice but to send her son, who suffers from delayed development, to her in-laws’ house since the centre’s closure.
“Due to his condition, my child is very dependent on his caregivers.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic, he was cooped up at home. We were relieved when he was able to return to the PDK to mingle with the other children and improve his physical and social skills at the same time.
“The closure was quite sudden and we are disappointed that it also affected my son’s monthly allowance of RM150, which could be used to purchase essential items such as milk formula and diapers,” said the nutritionist.
When contacted, Johor women, family and community development committee chairman Khairin Nisa Ismail said she was aware about the centre’s closure and would be meeting both the committee and parents soon.
Each PDK is registered as a non-governmental organisation under the Registrar of Societies and they usually have to apply for a grant from JKM to run the centre, she explained.
“From what I understand, there was an internal issue between the committee and parents so I will arrange a meeting with both sides to solve the issue as soon as possible,” she added.
