The Land Transport Department has warned disabled people to beware of miscreants who dupe them out of money by offering to help them receive mobility aids from the department.
Deputy department chief Suchart Klinsuwan said several conmen are cheating people who suffer from disabilities caused by road accidents.
These conmen will ask for money in exchange for helping them obtain mobility aids such as wheelchairs, crutches, and prosthetic legs and arms from the department’s Road Safety Fund.
Mr Suchart said such people are clearly swindlers as the department has no policy to send out officials to process requests for mobility aids. Instead, disabled people who want to obtain the gear must submit requests directly to the department or its provincial branches.
Mr Suchart said giving mobility aids to the disabled who are victims of road accidents is a key policy of the Road Safety Fund. The department regularly holds auctions of car licence plates bearing so-called "beautiful numbers", with proceeds going into boosting road safety and providing mobility aids for the disabled who are victims of road accidents.
The fund has provided mobility devices to more than 9,000 disabled people, Mr Suchart said, adding that this year’s applications for mobility aids will open next month.
Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry has sent teams of doctors and health volunteers to register disabled people who have lost their legs. The drive will be carried out in villages across the country, with those in need to be issued with artificial limbs to improve their qualify of life.
More than 10,000 people nationwide who have lost their legs are still unable to gain access to the ministry’s prosthesis services, Deputy Public Health Minister Somsak Chunharas said. Almost 125 factories nationwide run by the ministry and other agencies produce prosthetic legs to support the effort.