Human rights defenders describe practice of violation of patients’ rights in Kabardino-Balkaria

Olesya Shevchenko, a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria, who requested the republic’s Ministry for Public Health to provide her with medications in accordance with the law, withdrew her claim. The patient did that after a meeting with an official of the Ministry, who slandered in her eyes the activists of the “Patient Monitor” human rights organization. Medical officials regularly put pressure on patients to force them to give up their claims, a lawyer notes.

Being under pressure from top-ranking officials of the Ministry for Public Health of Kabardino-Balkaria, Olesya Shevchenko, a resident of the republic, who tried to get through the court the medications in accordance with the law, has withdrawn her claim, reports a spokesperson for the “Patient Monitor” human rights organization in Kabardino-Balkaria.

When the complaints, dismissed at the pre-trial stage, came to court, Olesya Shevchenko told the human rights defenders that she personally met a top-ranking official from the Ministry for Public Health of Kabardino-Balkaria. In a conversation with the patient, the official discredited the human rights defenders by saying that a lawyer of the “Patient Monitor” organization could use the power of attorney the patient issued to represent her interests in court for illegal actions without her knowledge for own selfish interests.

The top-ranking medical official convinced Olesya Shevchenko to withdraw her claim in exchange for a promise that she would be provided with the medications she needed. “And for some time, the patient had been definitely provided with the medications, but I don’t know about the current situation,” added the spokesperson for the “Patient Monitor” human rights organization.

According to the human rights defender, similar situations occur quite regularly in Kabardino-Balkaria: in the recent two or three years, the “Patient Monitor” organization has had at least four similar cases in the republic.

“The Ministry for Public Health refused to provide patients with medicines, explaining the refusal by a lack of funding,” emphasized the spokesperson for the “Patient Monitor” organization.

In particular, a mother of a child suffering from epilepsy, who filed a claim with the support of the “Patient Monitor”, was brought to tears in a clinic under threats and pressure.

Alexander Saversky, the president of the League of Patients’ Defenders, described the situation with pressure on patients in Kabardino-Balkaria as “abnormal.”

At the same time, Alexander Saversky has noted that the judicial way of resolving claims also does not always help patients solve their problems, since the processes may be delayed. “It happens that a case reaches the Supreme Court, the claim is won there, but the patient has already died by that time,” explained the human rights defender.