Thousands of invalids and pensioners in Moldova get free glasses and hearing aids

Some 530,000 persons received glasses for vision correction for free as part of the Action Plan for ensuring pensioners and invalids with visual impairments covering the period 2006-2007, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the Ministry of Public Health, the cost of the program approached 23 million lei, entirely provided by the Moldovan Government. Of those 530,000 persons that received glasses for eyesight correction, 63,000 are from Moldova’s eastern districts. To date, roughly 1,400 persons with hearing impairments received electronic hearing devices, whose cost was valued at 2 million lei, the authorities say. This year, an additional 813,000 lei is earmarked for this purpose. The authorities vow to initiate a program to provide persons with locomotion deficiencies in the Transnistrian region with wheelchairs. A similar program on the right side of the Nistru has ended.