The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus guarantees citizens the right to health protection.
The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus guarantees citizens the right to health protection.
During 2022-2023, the district prosecutor's office paid special attention to the issues of quality and timeliness of medical care provided by the healthcare institution "Lepel District Central Hospital", including in rural areas.
Based on the results of inspections conducted, the district prosecutor's office submitted submissions to the chief physician on 12.09.2022 and 09.03.2023, demanding that measures be taken to eliminate violations of the law. As a result of the consideration of the submissions, 26 officials who committed the violations of the law indicated in the submissions were brought to disciplinary responsibility.
In November 2023, the prosecutor's office conducted an inspection to monitor the measures taken by the healthcare institution "Lepel CRH" to eliminate previously identified violations of healthcare legislation.
As the inspection results show, adequate measures for providing medical care to the district population by the healthcare institution "Lepel CRH" have not been taken.
To date, a number of paramedic and obstetric posts in rural areas continue to operate without eliminating previously identified violations, specifically: in the absence of medical supplies, medicines, and adequate sanitary conditions for providing medical care and dispensing medicines.
The prosecutor's office of Lepel district identified expired medicines at 6 paramedic and obstetric posts.
For example, on the day of the inspection – 17.11.2023 – a medical worker at the Gorsky paramedic and obstetric post had a blister pack (6 tablets) of "Kaptopril" with an expiry date of up to 07.22, three ampoules of "Adrenaline" with an expiry date of up to 08.23, and two ampoules of "Amiodarone" with an expiry date of up to 10.23 in the medicine storage cabinet and the paramedic's kit bag.
In order to verify compliance with the screening schedules for adult and child populations, established from 01.01.2023 and stipulated by the Resolution of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus dated 09.08.2022 No. 83, a selective analysis of patient medical records from the institutions was carried out as part of the monitoring. The results revealed cases of non-compliance with the screening schedules for the adult population.
By the Resolution of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus dated 06.07.2007 No. 65 "On
«List of Essential Medicines» establishes the main list of medicines used for providing medical care to all categories of patients entitled to preferential, including free, provision of medicines.Despite the violations previously identified by the district prosecutor's office regarding the provision of free medicines to children under 3 years of age, no effective measures have been taken to date to eliminate them and prevent their recurrence.
No measures have been taken to rectify violations of the legislation regulating the provision of medical care to students under 18 years of age.
By Order of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus dated 05.09.2023 No. 1278, medical personnel in educational institutions are assigned the functions of accounting for and storing medical equipment, medical devices, and medicines, including maintaining a log of infectious diseases, food poisonings, and post-vaccination complications.
Despite the assigned duties, the requirements of the order are still not being fulfilled by the medical personnel at the educational institution "Zaslonovskaya Secondary School of Lepel District". At the time of the inspection, there were medicines with expired shelf life – "Potassium permanganate" until 10.23, the medical worker's kit for providing medical assistance outside the medical point in educational institutions was not fully equipped with the minimum list of medicines and medical devices (tablets "Captopril" and tablets (vial) "Paracetamol" were missing).
In addition, violations of sanitary standards were identified at the healthcare institution "Lepel Central District Hospital".
Specifically, food service staff did not properly ensure control over the storage of food products. For example, a violation of storage rules for bulk goods was found in the warehouse: cereals and salt were stored in plastic basins, which are not protected from dust and moisture. Information on the date of manufacture, package opening, and shelf life was missing at the time of inspection.
The identified violations of the legislation on ensuring the quality and timeliness of medical care provided to citizens were possible due to the unscrupulous performance of their official duties by responsible officials of the healthcare institution, weakened departmental influence and control over their activities, and the failure of the chief physician to take exhaustive measures to eliminate previously identified issues.
violations.Based on the results of the inspection conducted as a control measure, the District Prosecutor submitted a representation to the Chairman of the Lepel District Executive Committee, demanding that exhaustive organisational and practical measures be taken to eliminate the identified violations, as well as to improve the quality of medical care, accessibility, and medical provision, including in rural areas.
Senior Assistant
Prosecutor of Lepel District K.V. Grishkevich