In a new benefits package, beneficiaries of social welfare in the Kingdom will have their home furnished, utility bills paid, and health care services discounted, said Yusuf Al-Othaimeen, Minister of Social Affairs. The Ministry of Social Affairs has started making arrangements with the Ministry of Water and Electricity to pay water and power bills for the beneficiaries. Health benefits have been also introduced in the new services package. The beneficiaries will be given a discount card for health care services provided at private hospitals. The cost of medicine will be also cheaper with the discount card. As the new school year is approaching, the ministry has started giving out gift cards to over 428 students of needy families registered with it to help them buy their back-to-school needs from certain stores for their convenience. The new benefits package has come after frequent requests by members of needy families saying that SR6000 they each receive a year in social security benefits is not enough with the late wave of rising inflation in the Kingdom. More benefits packages are on the way, the minister assured the beneficiaries. Families to which social security assistance has been allocated number some 650,000. They consisted, Othaimeen said, mainly of elderly citizens, widows, orphans and handicapped individuals. – Okaz __
