operated mobile units to issue national identification cards for women who are unable to go to Civil Status offices. Muhammad Al-Awwas, Director of the department in the Eastern Province, said the service will be launched soon and the work is underway to equip the mobile units. Some procedures, however, need to be completed, including approval from the parents or guardians of the department's female employees that they can work outside the department's offices. These women's units come about two weeks after the mobile units operated by men were launched. The department will have three vehicles in Dammam, Al-Ahsa and Hafr Al-Baten, he said. He said men are currently serving disabled women at hospitals, old-age homes and rehabilitation centers for the disabled, adding that issuing a card for disabled women by these male-operated units involves some procedures, including a guardian's approval for a man to do the photography and a medical report showing that the woman is unable to visit the department's women's branches. “This is for women at homes, while those in hospitals need only their guardian's approval,” he said. __
