The Ministry of Health has introduced a draft federal law, On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation, in connection with the adoption of the federal law, On the Principles of Healthcare in the Russian Federation, which was developed in pursuance to the protocol of the Government meeting on 14 April, 2011.

Under this draft law, 57 legislative acts of the Russian Federation have been brought to conformity with the federal law On the Principles of Healthcare in the Russian Federation.

1. The draft law clarifies the legal organisation forms of medical institutions, as well as the types, forms, and conditions for the provision of healthcare services. The draft also outlines the rights of patients to receive medical care, their right to provide voluntarily and informed consent for medical intervention, and to refuse it, and the right to medical examinations. The draft law also establishes uniformity in terminology and concepts.

2. The draft law proposes the introduction of amendments to the law On Psychiatric Care and the Rights of Patients Receiving It to clarify the types of organisations that can provide mental health services, and the conditions for providing such care, the procedures for obtaining informed voluntary consent or refusal of medical intervention for minors.

To create uniform legal procedures, the draft law introduces amendments to section 35 of the Civil Procedure Code regulating the legal procedures to allow for involuntary admission of a patient to an in-patient medical facility providing psychiatric care, and for the patient’s involuntary psychiatric examination.

3. The draft law proposes the introduction of amendments to the federal law On Higher and Postgraduate Professional Education, according to which the Ministry of Health is authorised to approve, with the concurrence of the Ministry of Education, the provisions on internships and residencies, that includes the enrollment procedure and the training programme for internship and residency students.

4. The draft law introduces amendments to the federal law On Preventing the Spread of the Disease Caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), to provide free medicines for the treatment of HIV on an outpatient basis at the federal and regional public facilities, as well as to change the age limit of minors, for whom one of the parents gives informed voluntary consent to a medical examination.

5. The draft law introduces uniform terminology in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the Correctional Code, and the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as a number of other federal laws governing the activities of law enforcement agencies.

6. The draft law introduces amendments to the federal law On Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, according to which:

the Ministry of Health is authorised, in concurrence with the Federal Drug Control Service, to approve the procedure for issuing certificates that testify that employees who, in accordance with their official duties, should have access to narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, and their precursors, or cultivated narcotic plants, are not suffering from drug addiction, substance abuse or chronic alcoholism;

narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances can be prescribed not only by a medical doctor, but also by a nurse or a midwife;

the age of underage drug addicts is raised from 16 to 18 years, which grants them the right to voluntary and informed consent for medical intervention when being treated for drug addiction and examined to establish the state of drug, alcohol or substance intoxication.

7. The draft law proposes the introduction of amendments to the federal law On Advertising, which ban advertising of abortion services and folk remedies.

8. The draft law proposes the addition of a new section to the federal law On the Circulation of Medicines, outlining the restrictions for activities involving the circulation of medicines, including establishing restrictions for pharmaceutical companies and their representatives to interest medical and pharmaceutical workers in prescribing patients medicines produced by specific manufacturers.

Bringing the federal laws governing or affecting the public healthcare sphere in compliance with the federal law On the Principles of Healthcare in the Russian Federation will help ensure its implementation.

The draft law has been approved by the Government Commission on Legislative Activities for further consideration at a Government meeting.