RIYADH: More than 3,000 Saudis have benefitted from a pioneering initiative launched last week to give people with special needs improved access to government services and departments.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Development’s “Priority for Them” initiative focuses on four segments of society — the elderly, disabled, pregnant women and new mothers — giving them priority in waiting areas and queues to ensure better service.
The community awareness initiative, which kicked off on Wednesday, under the slogan “You are more worthy … Your well-being is our duty,” has helped thousands of people with special needs, according to Youssef bin Musafir Al-Sayali, the ministry’s director in Riyadh.
A mobile platform supervised by 15 ministry employees and volunteers from the Society for Physically Disabled Adults (Harakia) introduced sites that included King Khalid International Airport, King Saud Medical City hospital and Al-Makan Mall.
The initiative is one of a set of programs launched by the ministry to improve social services. According to the General Authority of Statistics in 2018, the plans could provide more than 5 million Saudi people with a fast track to essential services.
Saudi ministry’s priority access plan ‘helps thousands’
Saudi ministry’s priority access plan ‘helps thousands’
- The initiative is one of a set of programs launched by the ministry to improve social services
Saudi Cabinet condemns ‘blatant’ Iranian aggression; affirms Kingdom’s right to respond to attacks
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has warned it reserves the "full right" to respond to Iranian aggression following a series of "blatant and cowardly" strikes targeting the capital and the Eastern Province.
The warning came during a late-night Cabinet session on Tuesday, chaired by Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman via videoconference, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The Cabinet also "reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s full solidarity with the brotherly countries whose territories were subjected to blatant Iranian aggression," SPA said.
The session followed a dramatic escalation of hostilities, including a direct drone attack on the US Embassy in Riyadh.
Major General Turki al-Malki, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense, confirmed that while air defenses intercepted multiple threats, the embassy compound sustained a "limited fire and minor material damage."
He further announced that Saudi forces successfully intercepted and destroyed eight additional drones targeting the cities of Riyadh and Al-Kharj early Tuesday morning.
