Nyuta Federmesser spoke about the unsuccessful attempt to convince the deputies to keep independent services for the PNI

Nyuta Federmesser, founder of the Vera Hospice Charitable Foundation, said that at the meeting On July 18, the State Duma Committee on Health Protection opposed certain amendments to the law “On psychiatric care and guarantees of the rights of citizens in its provision.” The amendments were made by the government in February 2021.

Mostly it was about the abolition of the 38th article. It involves the creation by the state of an independent service for the protection of the rights of patients who are in neuropsychiatric boarding schools (PNI). According to the article, members of the service protect the rights of patients, accept their complaints, and contribute to the search for solutions to problems, including by contacting the authorities.

At the same time, it is proposed to change Article 46. Previously, it meant the control of public associations over the observance of the rights of citizens in the provision of psychiatric care. Now it is proposed to supplement their powers with the protection of the rights of those suffering from mental disorders: we are talking about regional authorities, ombudsmen, the Public Chamber, and the supervisory commission.

Nyuta Federmesser said that the rejection of Article 38 and the adjustment of Article 46 will not protect patients, since the amendments do not provide for the creation of separate independent bodies for these tasks. “And most importantly, the version proposed in Article 46 does not contain general requirements for the rules of work, and we have heard and know that for 30 years the norm of Article 38 did not work precisely because the regions did not know how to work with this norm,” she wrote on Facebook (owned by the extremist and banned in the Russian Federation Meta).

According to Nyuta Federmesser, the deputies did not accept objections at the meeting, referring to the fact that the state-legal department of the President of the Russian Federation is against clarifying the work of independent services in the amendments. First Vice Speaker of the State Duma Alexander Zhukov called it unreasonable to retain Article 38, since it “was not in force for 30 or more years.”

As a result of the meeting, the State Duma Committee supported the adoption of the amendments. On July 19, Nyuta Federmesser sent a letter signed by 40,000 relatives of PNI patients urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to repeal the amendments, but there was no response. Today, July 20, the State Duma approved the bill in the third reading. Nyuta Federmesser announced her refusal to deal with federal legislation in the future.