30 April, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Trusteeship councils of territorial social service centres have been established in all administrative districts of the Vitebsk region, the committee for labour, employment and social protection of the Vitebsk regional executive committee informed BELTA correspondent. The main task of the trusteeship councils will be to attract sponsorship and gratuitous assistance to provide additional support to lonely pensioners and disabled people, and to strengthen the material and technical base of the centres. As noted by the committee, last year territorial centres and boarding houses implemented humanitarian projects worth Br1.9 billion in the form of technical rehabilitation means and clothing. In 2011, local budgets allocated Br1.4 billion for the development and strengthening of the material base of the centres, which is more than a third higher than planned by the comprehensive programme for the development of social services for the population in the Vitebsk region for 2011-2015. These funds were used for current and capital repairs, equipping day care units for disabled people and creating computer classes. However, further strengthening of the material and technical base of the centres is necessary to improve the quality of social services. The committee considers the acquisition of special passenger and cargo vehicles for servicing round-the-clock care units, disabled people and the elderly as one of the priority tasks. According to the committee, last year, compared to 2010, the number of recipients of various types of social assistance in the region increased. Thus, in 2011, 13,000 people received home-based social assistance, compared to 12,600 in 2010. In 18 round-the-clock care units for the elderly and disabled, 765 people received social assistance (in 2010, there were 685). In the Vitebsk region, about 21% of the population are elderly citizens, including 52.7 thousand disabled people, 20.6 thousand lonely elderly people, and 4.4 thousand veterans of the Great Patriotic War. -0-

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