Eligibility of conscripts to be checked against electronic medical records – Kommersant

The military commissariats intend to get access to the medical data of conscripts from the Unified State Health Information System (EGISZ). A draft government decree amending the provision on conscription has been published on the regulatory legal acts portal. The document specifies how the mechanism for the formation of electronic personal files of citizens subject to conscription will work.

A draft government decree amending the regulation on the conscription of citizens for military service has been published on the portal of regulatory legal acts. It is proposed, in particular, to use data from the Unified State Health Information System for the formation of electronic personal files of conscripts.

The document prepared by the military department is aimed at introducing the digitalization of military records. In mid-April, President Vladimir Putin, we recall, signed amendments to a number of legislative acts regulating the creation of a digital accounting system for citizens liable for military service and a register of agendas that military registration and enlistment offices can now send to citizens through the public services portal. After receiving a summons, a citizen is prohibited from leaving the country until he appears at the military registration and enlistment office, and dodgers may be prohibited from driving a car, entering into real estate transactions, receiving bank loans and registering an individual entrepreneur. Commenting on the innovations, Andrey Kartapolov (United Russia), the head of the parliamentary defense committee, noted that “the system is human-oriented and minimizes the possibility of errors and the need for general communication between the conscription officer and the commissariat”: conscripts will “go to the draft board less, and many operations will be carried out remotely, including the initial registration and deregistration. However, the passage of the medical examination, he clarified, will remain face-to-face.

Now, when considering the issue of a citizen’s suitability for military service, military registration and enlistment offices are guided by a medical examination sheet with a doctor’s report and a conscript’s medical examination card. According to the draft resolution, the Ministry of Defense expects to use “information received in electronic form from the USISZ.” It is not clear whether we are talking about access only to an electronic conclusion based on the results of a medical examination or to any medical data of a citizen. The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation left this issue without comment to Kommersant.

In addition, the document says, through the electronic system, the commissariats will send applications to medical organizations for the allocation of specialist doctors involved in the examination of recruits. The EGISZ is also expected to be used for reporting: municipal military commissars will report on the results of medical examinations of recruits to the regional military commissar, who, in turn, will report to the governor.

The Unified State Health Information System has been operating in Russia since 2012. It includes 13 subsystems. The main ones are the register of medical workers, the register of medical organizations, the electronic registry, the integrated electronic medical record and the register of electronic medical documents. According to a 2018 government decree, both private and public institutions must participate in the exchange of information. Clinics that have a medical license are required to start transferring data to the EGISZ. From 2020, failure to comply with this requirement will result in a fine.

Access to medical data, according to the law, is only available to persons who have been given permission by the patient, points out Vadim Tkachenko, a lawyer, founder and CEO of the vvCube consulting group. However, any such information may be disclosed in the public interest at the request of public or judicial authorities. Also, the disclosure of information by medical organizations without the consent of patients can be directly provided for at the legislative level – as the Ministry of Defense intends to do. This, according to Mr. Tkachenko, can protect those “whose interests are infringed.” “Our company has clients who cannot prove the illness of their children or wards called up for military service,” says the lawyer. “These are really sick people, but for some reason their diagnosis is not confirmed during the medical examination. It can be respiratory diseases, infections, some kind of chronic disease – they do not appear in a certain period. In such cases, a person’s medical history is important, and it is often not possible to obtain it. Therefore, the transfer of access to digital medical data of recruits can be useful.”

Mr. Tkachenko points out the problem of ensuring reliable protection of personal medical data, as well as their storage and transfer within the system, in particular, between military registration and enlistment offices. Especially acute, according to him, the problem of leakage of information to scammers arises in the case of diagnoses “closely related to the personality”, for example, HIV or oncology. “We have a problem in order to generally establish a high-quality work of the Unified State Health Information System,” says Vadim Tkachenko. “In Moscow, they made their own EMIAS system (Unified Medical Information and Analytical System.— “b”) and did a good job. In other regions, the experience of the system is less successful. And how to share it with her is another problem that must be fully resolved.”

This is not the first time that a department intends to get access to the Uniform State Health Information System. At the end of 2022, the government of the Russian Federation submitted a bill to the State Duma that allows the Ministry of Internal Affairs to quickly receive data from the Ministry of Health in electronic form on the results of medical examinations of drivers. The document has passed only the first reading so far. If it is adopted, the results of medical examinations, including identified contraindications to driving vehicles, will be automatically uploaded to the Uniform State Health Insurance System and made available to the Ministry of Internal Affairs through the interdepartmental system of interaction.

It should be noted that the draft resolution also defines the procedure for filing a complaint with the draft board by citizens whose rights and legitimate interests, in their opinion, have been violated. It will be possible to appeal, including in electronic form – through the portal of public services.

Natalya Kostarnova