Muscat – At the media meeting held today by the Social Protection Fund (SPF) to review the benefits system for persons with disabilities, Shamsa Al Tamimi, Director of Medical Affairs at the SPF, clarified that not all individuals with physical disability cards are eligible for benefits. Only those with severe disabilities will continue to receive support.

During the meeting, Al Tamimi emphasized the importance of transparency in the benefits process to ensure that individuals with disabilities can easily access the support they need.
Al Tamimi provided specific criteria for various disability classifications:

• Hearing Impairment: Benefits are available for individuals whose disabilities are classified as severe or very severe.
• Mental Disabilities: Individuals must score less than 70 on the unified intelligence test (IQ TEST) to qualify for benefits.
• Visual Impairment: Eligibility includes those with very severe visual impairment, profound visual impairment, and blindness.
• Physical Disabilities: Only those with disabilities classified as severe will be eligible for assistance.
  Addressing the process of issuing disability cards, she pointed out that there is a corrective path for issuing a disability card. The path includes conducting a personal interview to sort and refine cases.
  The meeting also highlighted the broader context of disability in Oman, where more than 63,000 individuals with disabilities represent approximately 1.7 percent of the total population.