Supporting people with disabilities is a key priority for the government, Labour and Social Security Minister Niki Kerameus said on Friday in an interview with Open television, in which she spoke about a new Disability Certification Centre (KEPA) that is opening in the Athens district of Galatsi next Monday.
Kerameus noted that the new facility, which is a fully renovated property built for the 2004 Athens Olympics, will have the capacity to serve more than 150 people per day, while she thanked the Galatsi municipality for its valuable assistance in this effort.
She announced that a second and fully renovated and accessible KEPA will open in a few months at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Paleo Faliro, while also pointing to structural changes to the processes for assessing disability, with the expansion of the list of irreversible conditions to eliminate the need to renew certification every year for medically permanent conditions.
The labour minister referred to the new package of support measures announced by the government, noting that more than 600 million euros of the 1.1 billion excess surplus allocated by the government were the result of the labour ministry's economic policy, due to the 93,000 new jobs and increase in wages, as well as the implementation of the Digital Labour Card.
Kerameus also referred to an emerging trend for a return to Greece by Greek citizens who had emigrated abroad during the crisis and the ministry's efforts to facilitate their return, by organising trips abroad with Greek companies that were seeking highly trained and specialised staff.