Moskalkova suggested informing the Ministry of Internal Affairs about psychiatric registration

Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova suggests that the government consider the issue of notifying internal affairs bodies about registration at a psychiatric dispensary. This follows from her report “Respect and protection of the rights of citizens with mental disorders in the Russian Federation,” which she will present in the State Duma, they report “Vedomosti”.

According to the publication’s sources, the report will be presented at a meeting of the State Duma Committee for the Development of Civil Society, the Family Protection Committee and the Control Committee on November 27. The document was sent to deputies for review. Vedomosti also has it at its disposal.

The report states that the Ministry of Internal Affairs receives data on citizens with mental disorders who could potentially pose a threat to others only after committing illegal actions. As stated in the report with reference to the position of the Ministry of Internal Affairs following a meeting of the expert council under the Commissioner for Human Rights on April 28, 2022, the department wants to prevent these crimes.

The report also cites department statistics: it is stated that about 7 thousand “socially dangerous acts” are committed annually by “insane persons.” It is also noted that a third of all crimes, or almost 270 thousand (32%), are committed under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

A problem for the implementation of this proposal may be the “conflict of two federal laws.” On the one hand, according to the relevant law, police officers are obliged, together with health authorities, to monitor people suffering from mental disorders and posing a danger to others in order to prevent crime. On the other hand, medical organizations often refuse to provide information about patients to internal affairs bodies for fear of violating medical confidentiality.

In 2021, Deputy Minister of Health Oleg Salagai said that about 5.6 million Russians suffer from mental disorders. According to official statistics Ministry of Health for 2020, the most common diagnoses are psychosis and dementia. These diagnoses were given to 674 thousand Russians. Then come mental disorders associated with mental retardation: 459 thousand people were diagnosed with this diagnosis.

At the same time, psychiatric accounting is an outdated legal concept. In the USSR, psychiatric registration meant regular monitoring of the patient, monitoring his condition in outpatient psychiatric institutions (psychoneurological dispensaries, dispensary departments and psychiatric offices). This concept was officially abolished in the early 90s. Instead of “psychiatric registration,” the concepts of “consultative and therapeutic care” and “dispensary observation” were introduced.

Anastasia Larina