Thailand to open ASEAN blind centre

BANGKOK, January 28 (TNA) - The blind with multiple disorders in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) can now look forward to the opening of a dedicated knowledge-sharing house in Thailand later this year. Chairman of the Christian Foundation for the Blind in Thailand under the Royal Patronage (CFBT) Professor Wiriya Namsiripongpan said on Saturday that the new centre will be housed in Cha-um resort District of Petchaburi Province, aimed at improving quality of life of the regional blind with multiple disabilities. According to the CFBT chair, in the future the centre will serve for exchanges of the ASEAN blind to promote not only their knowledge-sharing, but also their self-independent living to the utmost. The CFBT chair urged the Thai government to consider providing more financial support for the blind with multiple disabilities in the country, whom he said, require higher care due to their physical and mental impairments, claiming that a 30,000-baht-annual allowance for each of the blind granted by the government currently does not meet real expenditures of up to 100,000 baht each annually. (TNA)