International Day of Persons with Disabilities is celebrated on December 3. In recent years in Russia we have seen serious positive changes in the area of support for people with disabilities. This concerns both the availability and quality of medical care, as well as opportunities for their professional and personal self-realization. But much remains to be done before physical and bureaucratic barriers are completely eliminated.
For example, we see positive changes in the system of medical and social examination. Each of the 11.5 million Russians with an established disability group passed it at least once in order to receive the right to a pension, compensation for utility bills, free medicines and technical means of rehabilitation. This is a serious help for maintaining quality of life.
To prevent the receipt or extension of disability from turning into an obstacle race, a new procedure for determining disability will be in effect from July 1, 2022. It allows you to undergo an examination without personal visits to the office. However, there are still pain points that need to be addressed. This is not a complete list of the difficulties that people still face when registering a disability – this is the lengthy collection of a huge number of documents, paid tests and poor-quality preparation of an individual rehabilitation and habilitation program.
The issue of preferential drug coverage still remains relevant. We see difficulties with timely access of patients to innovative therapy. In many ways, they arise due to the long and complex processes of their registration and inclusion in preferential lists. It is very important to remove barriers to new drugs by speeding up registration procedures as much as possible.
A serious block of preferential provision of medicines is tied to the status of a disabled person, and this is a condition in which significant limitations in life activity already appear. And we continue to insist that the correct approach is when state support in the form of preferential medications begins upon the fact of illness, and not just upon receipt of disabled status.
After all, in order to preserve a person’s ability to work, social activity and quality of life, medical care must be provided to him at the earliest stages. Therefore, it is important to expand preferential drug programs to those citizens who are at risk and who do not yet have disabled status.
Recently, we have made serious progress in creating an inclusive urban environment. Indeed, in large cities, social, cultural and sports facilities have become more convenient for people with limited mobility. But there are a number of challenges to the implementation of the principles of inclusion in medical practice.
One of them is the problem of accessibility of buildings and premises for people with disabilities, including access roads, elevators, wide doors and special facilities for the disabled. It is important to ensure the availability of the necessary equipment and tools for the diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of patients with different characteristics and needs.
Today, the country is actively creating uniform standards for the rehabilitation of people with disabilities and comprehensive systems of support for them. As part of the national project “Digital Economy”, distance learning IT programs are being implemented, “smart apartments” are equipped with special equipment, and neurotechnologies make it easier for special people to work at manufacturing enterprises.
But the question remains of the accessibility of government Internet resources for people with disabilities and, in general, the creation of an online space for them, adapted to their special needs. This is still a growth area on the path to realizing a patient-centered healthcare model.
The author is co-chairman of the All-Russian Union of Patients
The editorial position may not coincide with the opinion of the author
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