Deputies propose to change procedure for determining disability

On 25 June, a joint meeting of the Legislative Chamber Committees on labor and social issues and on protection of public health was held in Tashkent. The meeting discussed the results of the inventory of current normative-legal acts on defining the disability.

At present, 104 Services for Medical-Labor Expertise (SMLE) operate in the country, in which 353 expert doctors provide services to the population.

At the meeting with participation of deputies from the lower house of the parliament, members of the expert group under the committees, officials of relevant ministries and departments, the issues in law enforcement practice that caused excessive red tape of citizens in this area were discussed, the parliamentary press service said.

It was noted that the issues of preparation and submission of documents by medical institutions to the medical-labor expert commission are not legally regulated. 

Also, due to the fact that the signs and lists of diseases undergoing early preliminary medical examination by the SMLE are not approved, medical institutions in some cases require treatment in hospitals for 4, 6 and 10 months with obvious signs of disability.

According to the regulation on conducting medical examinations of citizens in medical-labor commissions of experts, it is necessary to treat them on the basis of the established requirements in medical and preventive institutions for 120, 180 or 300 days. Sometimes, due to the lack of material capacity to treat such patients at hospitals (a shortage of beds), their disability group is not registered..

Deputies made a number of proposals to improve the mechanisms and terms for determining disability. For example, a proposal was made to introduce a support mechanism to determine the disability of the applicant with obvious signs of infirmity. It is also proposed to introduce an order that obliges health authorities to assist them with identifying the people in need of medical-social assistance and completing the necessary documentation.