The total amount of the tender published on the website of the National Social Policy Institute is HUF 45.3 million; you can apply until April 30.

The State Secretary responsible for social affairs of the Ministry of Human Resources announced at a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday that NGOs training dogs that help people with disabilities and therapy dogs are eligible for support.

Attila Fülöp announced: the amount of the tender published on the website of the National Institute of Social Policy is HUF 45.3 million; you can apply until April 30. You can apply to support the training and testing of assistance dogs, as well as the training of therapy dogs, he added.

The assistance dog is "one of the tools of barrier-free access", the goal is that the dogs can help the affected people to lead an independent life - indicated the state secretary, adding: there are more than one million disabled people and their relatives in Hungary, so it is important to help make their lives barrier-free.

Sándor Nagy , president of the Hungarian Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired (MVGYOSZ), spoke about how assistance dogs mean traffic safety for many visually impaired people. They accurately indicate the obstacles along the road, find the stairs, the pedestrian crossing, the door, so they lead their owner exactly to the destination, he said.

He also reported that Hungary has a long tradition of training guide dogs, their association has been doing this since 1978. He emphasized that they receive a lot of help from the state budget and tenders to train the dogs, and then he thanked those who support the training of guide dogs with their donations.

Sándor Nagy also spoke about the fact that 80 people are currently using the dogs trained by MVGYOSZ, and there are 74 people on the waiting list who also want to receive a guide dog.
He added that the association plans to train 12 guide dogs this year. Sándor Nagy also called it important that the guide dog and its owner be a "good couple". Two dog trainers attended the press conference with one dog each, and briefly presented some elements of the training.

MTI

Photo: MTI/Márton Mónus