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13. In its decision of 19 May 2012, the Cabinet instructed public hospitals,

government buildings (city halls, district and local administrative offices)

educational institutions and police stations to provide at least 5 basic

facilities for persons with disabilities, i.e ramps, toilets, parking, signage and

information services within 2015. According to the report on the

implementation of the Cabinet decision by the Public Health Ministry, it is

found that 356 hospitals and health facilities have made physical

adjustments and provided all the 5 facilities for persons with disabilities. This

accounts for 40 percent of all the 890 health facilities surveyed. The

problems found in making physical adjustments are that the structure of

existing buildings are not readily adaptable and there is a lack of

understanding about the design requirements on the part of responsible

staff such as the civil engineers. This has resulted in the facilities that do

not comply with design standards and need to be readjusted. The

problem has been addressed by the DEP and Sirindhorn National Medical

Rehabilitation Center, who have jointly organized training for the staff

responsible for making physical adjustments. The information regarding the

implementation of this Cabinet decision by other government agencies is

not available at the time when this report was being prepared.

14. Recommendation: The government should accelerate and follow up

on the implementation of the May 2012 Cabinet decision so that public

buildings are accessible to persons with disabilities. Apart from physical

adjustments, the government should pay greater attention to other kind of

facilities which might have been overlooked but require less time and

budget to accomplish such as information services that are accessible to

persons with all types of disabilities.