Healthcare bill passes first reading in Belarus

MINSK, 31 May (BelTA) – The bill “On amendments to healthcare laws” passed the first reading at the meeting of the ninth session of the House of Representatives of the seventh convocation, BelTA has learned.

The bill was submitted to the House of Representatives by the Council of Ministers on 11 April. The bill is designed to amend the laws “On healthcare” and “On minimum social security standards” taking into account their implementation practices.

The bill seeks to improve the provision of medical care, the control over healthcare activities, and professional training of medical workers. It will allow the government to decide how to finance state-run healthcare facilities that have not passed accreditation, to regulate matters related to medical and social rehabilitation of persons suffering from the dependence syndrome, as well as to introduce voluntary accreditation of healthcare facilities for compliance with national criteria.

The state-run center for drug evaluation Gospharmnadzor shall control the circulation of medical products. The bill will allow organizations that are involved in healthcare work as a non-core activity to conduct temporary disability examination. The bill also regulates some aspects of the work of university clinics. The document allows providing certain groups of patients with medicines not included in the National Medicines Formulary using the funds of the central and (or) local budgets. The bill also improves postgraduate training of medical residents.