The 2,600 people with hearing impairments who are members of the Association of the Deaf will benefit from sign language interpretation services. The Government approved the relevant regulations on May 7, IPN reports.

Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family Valentina Buliga said these are the first regulations of the kind in Moldova. They are required by the Law on the Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities. The goal is to facilitate the communication between people who are deaf, mute or deaf mute and the representatives of different institutions and organizations, guaranteeing thus their rights and improving the quality of their lives.

According to Valentina Buliga, 500,000 lei was earmarked in the 2014 state budget for providing sign language interpretation services. This money will be used to offer 15,748 hours of sign language interpretation, by 6 hours a year for every person.

The sign language interpretation services will be provided based on applications submitted to the Association of the Deaf, which has nine authorized interpreters. One hour of interpretation will cost 31.75 lei, 25 lei of which is the remuneration, while the rest is the social and health insurance contribution. The gross average official salary for 2014 is 4,225 lei a month or 25 lei an hour.