CYBERJAYA, Sept 10 — The government intends to set up more community-based rehabilitation centres (PPDK) for high-functioning autism (HFA) throughout the country that focus on developing the potential of children with special needs.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun said that currently, there are only two centres for this purpose, namely PPDK Templer in Rawang and PPDK HFA Cyberjaya.

"It is indeed the ministry’s desire to increase the number of PPDK HFA, but we need to look at the needs because, in PPDK, we have certain specialisations.

"We hope that more PPDKs will be established according to the type of disability so that these special children have the same opportunities for rehabilitation and education,” she told a press conference after attending the ‘Sentuhan Kasih Prihatin Rakyat’ programme for persons with disabilities (PwD) here today.

According to statistics, as of June 30, 2022, a total of 36,601 individuals in Malaysia have been confirmed to have autism, of which 24,748 are children under 12.

PPDK is an initiative under the Social Welfare Department’s (JKM) Community-based Rehabilitation Programme which focuses on providing premises and facilities for rehabilitation, education, activities and specific training to integrate PwDs into society.

Meanwhile, Rina said the Sepang district had been selected as a pilot project to increase and promote the registration of the PwDs aggressively, from today until Oct 31.

"To date, only 2.05 per cent of PwDs people are registered with JKM, which is a small figure compared to the estimated 15 per cent of PwDs in the country,” she said.

She also said parents and guardians need to ensure that special children are registered as PwDs to enable them to receive all the benefits the government has arranged for the group.

At the same programme, Rina presented the government’s additional financial assistance of RM225,679.55 to 22 PPDKs in several states.

For 2022, the government has allocated a total of RM102.5 million in financial assistance, which has been channelled to 568 PPDKs nationwide through JKM. — Bernama