The Ministry of Social Development (Mides) will reinforce coverage for homeless people from May 15 to October 31. The quotas will reach 4,215 throughout the country, and may be increased according to demand. “The fundamental purpose is to respond to any person who requests protection,” said the head of the portfolio, Martín Lema, who detailed the various ways of information and communication of the plan.
The presentation of the National Winter Plan for homeless people, which took place on Tuesday 10, was also attended by the Ministers of the Interior, Luis Alberto Heber, and National Defense, Javier García; the director of Social Protection of Mides, Fernanda Auersperg, and the president of the National Institute for Children and Adolescents of Uruguay (INAU), Pablo Abdala, among other authorities.
Lema considered that state and private coordination is carried out on a daily basis in order to provide protection to the people who need it most. “It is part of the country that we want. The slogan is that we cannot give any person as lost, ”he pointed out.
He stressed that, in addition to the increase in places, other measures will be implemented: call center and mobile assistance teams on the street, special operation in the face of a wave of polar cold, centers that accept pets, medical care, food, addressing problematic consumption of psychoactive substances.
He highlighted the agreements with the British Hospital, Uruguayan Medical and the Spanish Association, to strengthen assistance, as well as the collaboration of the National Food Institute (INDA), to provide food to those who attend the Mides centers.
He also recalled that, according to the data from the survey carried out in 2020, 53% of those who were outdoors in Montevideo and 26.6% of those who spent the night in a Mides center declared having been deprived of their liberty at some time. Because of this, attention is strengthened in the National Directorate of the Released and the office of the Secretary of State in the Santiago Vázquez prison.
In his speech, Heber highlighted the institutional coordination, which shows the concern on this issue. He also confirmed that it is a duty to help Mides in this task and that 50 permanent troops will be available to help with the transfer of people.
García, meanwhile, indicated that the concept of human security that places individuals at the center of decisions is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Defense. He announced that the three armed forces will work on food protection. In this sense, he pointed out that, since March 2020, 1,500,000 dishes of food have been prepared for social purposes.
He added that some 15 military units, located in 12 departments, will be able to receive those who require it, according to the needs in each case. He detailed that in 2020 there were 2,039 housed and in 2021, about 9,342.
“The system is prepared so that there is no child or adolescent in a street situation,” said Abdala, who valued the increase in the number of educators who work in the mobile street unit in charge of receiving information and serving these people. .
Winter Plan establishes wide coverage
The device designed for this year includes different modalities of coverage in inns and nightclubs, 24 hours for people who require care due to physical or cognitive dependency, for women with children and adolescents, pensions, homes of the Housing with Support program and military units.
To notify people on the street in Montevideo, the free telephone line 0800 8798 will be enabled, which from May 15 will extend its hours and will work 24 hours every day. In addition, the service is available via WhatsApp, 092 910 000, to alert about individuals out in the open.
If someone with these conditions requires medical attention, they should call 105 ASSE directly. For improper occupation of public spaces, the departmental Emergency Coordination Centers must be informed, and, in Montevideo, at 2901 0006.
In the case of children or adolescents without adult references, you should call the INAU Blue line, 0800 5050, from Monday to Sunday from 08:00 to 20:00; outside these hours, at 098 462 326.
In the country’s capital, nightclubs operate as a gateway between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. every day and maintain the decentralized modality that began to be implemented in 2020. In the rest of the territory, the population You must contact the departmental Emergency Coordination Centers or 911.
Furthermore, in the mides websiteyou will be able to consult the complete list of centers and their respective addresses and details.
