Military service ‘burns’ the disability payment of the disabled people

There are left out from the payment scheme tens of people with disability in Fier. The Social Insurance Directorate says that for such cases the Supreme KEMP must decide, whereas the Social Service evokes for the implementation of the law, by leading the beneficiaries to the Social Insurance.

By Arben Velo

Every day, tens of people with disability are waiting for many hours in queues in front of the doors of the Regional Social Insurance Directorate in Fier to hand over the requests to the KEMP in Tirana. The people with disability and their family members complain about the unfair removal from the scheme of the social aid, a decision taken by the managers of the State Social Service on the frame of the cleansing of the lists from the abusers. But after the exclusion from the aid lists of the disabled people, the later request to enter to another scheme, that of benefiting the retirement payment, even though their years of work that consist on the work done to the agricultural cooperatives and that of the military service are counted with the fingers of one hand.

The case of Fier on regard to the cleansing of the lists from the beneficiaries of the disability payment is one of the most flagrant ones where they throw the bucket with the child. People that are really ill, about 20% from a list of more than 4000 beneficiaries of the disability payment in this region, and others whose time of the disability starts from their childhood or even birth, and have worked in some easy jobs during the summer time, cannot benefit the disability payment. They result to have working years for this period and due to this ‘black spot’ of employment in their life, they result to have working years in the State Social Service, even thought their working years do not surpass one or two years during their whole life.

Vjollca Qosaj, the wife of one of the removed people from the list of the economic aid

If this was not enough to ‘burn’ the disability payment, the irony of fate goes further. Among them there are people that have been taken by force to perform the military service even though they have been disabled. Hence, even though they have not worked a single day in their life, the years of the military service are a burden to them as they are recognized as working years. Almost every day, there turn up from five to ten cases like this to the Fier Regional State Social Insurance Directorate.

Vjollca, the wife of Alket Qosaj from the well known village of Ruzhdie, being at the commune with the same name in Fier district, tells how they have removed her ill husband from the scheme of the people with disabilities. Vjollca says that her husband suffers from generalized epilepsy of secondary and frequent crises of epilepsy. She verifies his illness with the diagnosis certification registered with No. 170 of the decision of KEMP signed by the four specialists. But, this commission, which certifies his illness, decides that he is not an object of the disability payment, because he has done the military service.

“They have cut me the payment. My husband has been ill before the 1992. In this year they got him by force to do the military service, just to fill the numbers. After he finished the service, his illness deteriorated. They brought him to the commission, because he was not able to work. He needed medicines, he suffers from epilepsy. Whereas, this year, the commission cuts the disability payment. I cannot buy him the medicine. I ask for the KEMP, but the State Social Service tells me that the law does not allow it. I have four children to feed”, says Vjollca.

The Fier Regional Social Insurance Directorate explains that there are treated all the citizens that have some working years and the people that their illness or disability has appeared after they have started the work. The Director of this institution, Andjus Olldashi, says that other categories are treated by the State Social Service. “Up to now, there is no law or decision that officially defines that the people with disabilities that might have had one or two years of the military service, but at the same time they have the staring period for their invalidity since their childhood or are born like that, to be treated from the Social Insurance, declares Olldashi for investigim.al.

Andjus Olldashi, director of Fier Social Insurance

The head of Fier Social Insurance accepts the trouble that has been created to the category of people with disabilities, that according to him is not purposely done, but it is legal. “By implementing the law, we are bringing an extra concern to this category. It must be the supreme KEMP that has to decide in such cases”, underlines Olldashi.

But do we have in this case a violation of the basic constitutional rights of the citizens? Olldashi accepts this fact by admitting that: “As up to now, the citizens are denied the constitutional right from the administrators of the economic aid, the right that relates to the acceptance of the documents, registration of the complaints that the citizens have, to be lately addressed to the State Social Service or Supreme KEMP, because no written letter is given to them, but they are orally told ‘go to the Social Insurance and we will sent your folder there. Meantime, the Social Insurance must begin a procedure from the very beginning. Every day, we have five to ten new cases of citizens removed from this list coming to us. I am obliged to get a written request from them and then send it to Tirana”, concludes the head of the Fier Regional State Social Insurance Directorate, Andjus Olldashi.

The Fier State Social Service declares that they have started an action on cleansing the lists from the abusers. The director of this institution, Alba Stefa says that they will fulfill the requests given in the Law No. 9355 for the economic aid and social services.

Director of Fier Social Service, Alba Stefa

“The law defines it right, – she says, – on regard to the definition of the diagnostic criteria for the people with disabilities, and the law is very clear related to the way on how someone can benefit the economic aid. We refer here to the people that have done the military service or for those that have paid at least one month of social insurance. For all these cases we have interrupted the payment and have directed the citizens to get their contributions based on the criteria of calculation exercised by the Social Insurance Directorate”, explains the Director of Fier Social Service.

At the moment that a person is cut off from the treatment of the State Social Service and is represented to benefit from the Social Insurance, then he has to start the procedure from the beginning. Firstly, he must be supplied with a new Orientation Form to the Supreme KEMP, to wait for 6 months, a period when he will be given a medical leave or disability certification and fulfill all the other documents. After six months he must show up to the commission and when the later concludes that the person is really ill then it comes the other problem related to the date when the disability payment must start. In the regulation of the Health Commission of Defining the Disability (KMCAP), in the decision of the Council of Ministers and in the instructions issued for its implementation is clearly defined that the Social Insurance treats those people that have their starting time of the disability after the beginning of their working relationship.

A disabled person that was born like that and being treated by the State Social Service gets a payment of 9900 leke per month. But at the moment that he starts the procedure in the Social Insurance Directorate, the amount of the payment for his disability is calculated based on his working years. When he has only one year of work or military service, the pension he gets goes up to 3000 leke per month.