Complaints are addressed to the Human Rights
Defender that during the socio-medical examinations aimed at determining the
status of the disability, an objective examination of a person is not carried
out; the real possibilities of a person's vital activities are not taken into
account, and a real need assessment is not carried out; instead, the decisions
are made with approaches that are subjective and incomprehensible for those
persons.
This
issue is also addressed in 2020 annual report of the Human Rights Defender.
Thus, according to the complaints, the medical documents on the
health of the examinee were submitted to the socio-medical examination committee,
as a result of which, the committee members decided that the latter does not indicate
an impairment of the normal functioning of the body.
On the basis of those decisions made by the committee, either no
disability status was determined for these persons or the existing disability
group remained unchanged. However, the results of the complaints serve as
evidence that the above-mentioned justifications of the commissions did not, in
fact, take into account the actual changes in the quality of life of the
person, regardless of the fact whether there is an impairment of the normal functioning
of the body or not.
For example, in one of the
applications, the complainant stated that although 3 fingers from their one
hand and 4 fingers of the other were amputated, a third group of disability was
determined for them as a result of the socio-medical examination, on the
grounds that the stable functioning of the hands was not impaired.
However, the standards of the
socio-medical examination did not allow the consideration of the specific case
that the complainant was engaged in construction work, and at that time did not
have the necessary skills to improve his quality of life and to secure his
independent living. At the same time, the consultation
given after the examination
(that is, to master their skills in another area) was not even essential, since
the necessary guidance was not provided, and opportunities for the
implementation of the relevant rehabilitation program were not offered.
Moreover,
because
of the lack of community-based
services, they were entirely unavailable. As a result, the person was deprived not only of the
opportunity to provide for himself in the given situation but also faced the problem of the unavailability of supporting opportunities and services in solving the raised issues.
Problems regarding the determining
of disability status or changing disability groups continue to further deepen as
a result of the ineffectiveness of the appealing mechanisms of the committee.
The monitoring conducted by the Office
of the Defender and the observations of the members of the public council adjunct
to the Defender prove that in case of
appealing an administrative act, only a cursory examination
of the
acte is often carried out and the decision remains largely unchanged;
nether a complete analysis of the person's complaints and information, nor a
documentary examination is carried out.
Citizens who have addressed
their complaints to the Human Rights Defender do not trust the mechanisms for
appealing the decisions of the socio-medical examination committee. For
example, appeals are addressed to the Defender mentioning that people who are
against the decision of the committee do not want to appeal it in many cases,
considering it a waste of time.
Citizens are convinced that
even in the event of an appeal, their explanations will not be heeded. Only formulations
that exist in documents will serve as a ground, and the body examining the appeal
will ignore their arguments. In other words, the decision-appealing procedures
are perceived as unnecessary formalities, rather than an additional opportunity
to protect their rights.
The awareness of the
procedures for appealing the decisions of the socio-medical examination committee
remains problematic, since, as a rule, people pay attention only to the conclusions
of the examination, and the state does not take sufficient steps to make these
procedures more credible and effective.
Moreover, people are seldom
aware of the possibility of having their own doctor-representative take part in
the examination, especially if they are undergoing a socio-medical examination
for the first time.
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