Tougher control to be established over disability documents 

ArmInfo.  Control over issuing documents on the degree of disability of a person will be tightened in Armenia. The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia is discussing amendments to the law "On assessing the functionality of a person" and the Code of Administrative Offenses in the second and  final reading at the plenary session on May 7.

According to the head of the office for coordination of work of  inspection bodies of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic  of Armenia Petros Martirosyan, the need to develop a package is due  to the fact that, according to the previously adopted amendments to  the law "On assessing the functionality of a person", a regulation  has been established according to which control over the procedure  for assessing the functionality of a person is carried out by the  inspection body that supervises the healthcare sector.

However, in addition to the above, no other regulation provides for  tools and procedures for implementing control. In accordance with the  package, it is proposed to introduce a number of provisions, the  adoption of which is expected to ensure proper control over the  assessment of the functionality of an individual, the functions  performed by competent authorities, organizations, commissions and  individuals in implementing the measures provided for in the  individual service program.

In particular, the assessment will be carried out by the inspection  body on the basis of new mechanisms that will be reflected in the  annual program of the body and applied as necessary. The grounds for  conducting inspections will be reports from local authorities,  applications from individuals, information from organizations  involved in assessing the functionality of a person, as well as  instructions from the Prime Minister. If the inspection body finds  that a medical worker, violating the degree of disability in exchange  for something or unreasonably sending a citizen to obtain a degree of  disability, then the inspection body will have to conduct an  inspection and contact the Ministry of Health. The Ministry will  conduct a re- investigation, and if there are grounds, then it may  suspend the individual license of the medical worker.  Intentional  refusal to issue a referral may also be considered a violation.