PUTRAJAYA: Following a near fatal accident involving a disabled monorail passenger in KL Sentral recently, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry wants public transport operators to beef up their safety measures for the disabled.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim, voiced her disappointment that despite having the mandatory Disability Equality Training (DET) and Disability Related Services Training (DRST) programmes for the train operators, the train stations in the country, especially monorail stations, remain hazardous to the disabled community.
She said she has received an explanation from the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) about a disabled train user, Mohd Hanapiah Yeop Shaharudin, who fell onto the tracks while trying to board a train at the KL Sentral monorail station on Nov 12.
"The National Council for the Disabled and I are very worried that such incidents have happened too many times at our train stations all over the country. In one case, it involved the same disabled victim," Rohani told reporters after chairing a meeting of the National Council for the Disabled in her office this evening.
Citing that her ministry has recorded two cases this year, a total of 17 cases involving 16 disabled train passengers have been recorded since 2004. Most of the disabled victims, she said, were badly injured and hospitalised.
During the Nov 12 accident, Mohd Hanapiah, 49, who is visually-impaired, sustained serious when he miscounted his steps. Not knowing that his regular three-carriage train had been changed to a two-carriage train, he fell to the ground and slipped into a coma.
Rohani said she has asked SPAD to inform train operators to provide the safest train rides for the disabled.
She also urged the public transport providers to send their frontliners for the DET and DRST programmes.
"We started the programme with Prasarana in June this year. But they sent us their 30 supervisors. I want their frontliners to attend because they are the ground staff," she explained.
Reiterating the need for a more caring Malaysian society, Rohani has also advised the public to be more helpful if they see a disabled train user in need of help.