Prepared by the Office for the rights of persons with disabilities.
Period: August 2012
About 53 appeals were received from August 1 till August 31 2012 by the Office for the rights of persons with disabilities.
40 appeals were taken for further more detailed consideration by the Office’s lawyers.
Appeals in numbers:
Women – 17
Men – 23
1st group disabled – 10
2nd group disabled – 17
3rd group disabled – 7
Without a disability group – 2
Children:
With the 3rd group of health loss – 4
Requests, appeals, petitions to state bodies: 4
Appeals which are being considered: 7
Appeals from Minsk: 19
Appeals from regions: 21
During the reporting period the Office considered:
1. Appeals concerning labour and employment
2. Appeals concerning sufficient living standard and social protection (including the main rights and benefits, pension, financial support alimony): 19
3. Appeals concerning health: 5
4. Appeals concerning accessibility (including barrier0free environment, housing problems): 6
5. Appeals concerning independent way of life and inclusion to local community: 4
6. Appeals concerning habilitation and rehabilitation: 1
7. Appeals concerning education: 1
8. Appeals concerning access to justice: 1
Appeals concerning sufficient living standard and social protection.
Citizen L. appealed to the Office for the rights of persons with disabilities with the problem of legality of taking her off the list of persons who are in need of living conditions improvement. She was on the list, and since 2007 has been in line for getting social housing. She received notices with requests to come to housing department in order to get acquainted with the offers of housing variants, but she didn’t go there. Sometime later she received a letter where it was written that she was taken off the list of people who are in need of improvement of living conditions, because she refused three offered variants.
The decision of the executive committee corresponds with the existing Belarusian legislation (p. 31.10 of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus № 565 from 29.11.2005 “On some measures of regulation of housing relations: “citizens are taken off the list of the needy in the improvement of living conditions in case of written refuses (not less than 3 during a calendar year) of the offers of social housing”.
What concerns the health problems, during the reporting period citizen X. appealed to the Office for the rights of persons with disabilities, her husband is diagnosed with chronic renal failure (disability group is set by Belarusian MREC). The husband has residence permit in Belarus and because he is a disabled he has the right to use the rights and benefits (medicines with discount and other) set by the law № 239-3 from 14.06.2007 “On state social benefits and guarantees to some categories of citizens”. But when it concerns rendering planned medical procedures (dialyses) such medical service is rendered to him for money, because he is a Ukrainian citizen. The family asked us to handle the situation, because in order to get reexamination for disability group planned hospitalization is needed, the fee for which is very often impossible to pay for persons with disability.
The lawyer of the Office for the rights of persons with disabilities appealed to the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus in order to get explanation about the order of rendering planned medical service to citizens of CIS having residence permit and who are disabled. The main question was why a person who is disabled and has residence permit cannot use free planned medical service.
Based on the letter by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus from 23/04/2009 № 02-2/732-490, and in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Belarus, foreign citizens and citizens without citizenship permanently living in the Republic of Belarus, have the right for medical service equally with citizens of the Republic of Belarus, if other is not set by the laws of the Republic of Belarus and international treaties of the Republic of Belarus.
The order of rendering medical service to the citizens of CIS (excluding the citizens of Russia) who are temporarily or permanently living at the territory of the Republic of Belarus is defined by the national legislation and by the Treaty on rendering medical service to citizens of the countries participants of CIS (signed on March 27, 1997).
In accordance with the articles 2-8 of this Treaty, ambulance and emergency medical services are rendered to citizen of CIS in cases of urgent conditions and illnesses which threaten the life of a patient or the health of other people, accidents, poisonings, trauma, childbirth for free and in full measure. Since the moment when there is no more threat to the life of a patient or to the health of other people, medical service is rendered for money.
The answer we received from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus proved the fact that planned medical service is rendered to the citizens of CIS (excluding the citizens of Russian Federation – they get such service for free) who have the residence permit for money. But we think that the interests of disabled with residence permit are ignored.
