The State Duma adopted a bill on remote medical examinations of drivers

The State Duma yesterday adopted a bill in three readings at once, which allows for remote medical examinations of drivers employed in taxis, bus and passenger transportation. Today, we recall that employers are required to check health as part of pre-trip and post-trip medical examinations – this is the responsibility of full-time or involved doctors. At the end of 2021, a group of deputies (Alexander Zhukov, Dmitry Khubezov, Evgeny Moskvichev, Yaroslav Nilov) submitted to the State Duma amendments to the laws “On the Basics of Protecting the Health of Citizens” and “On Road Safety”, allowing companies to use telemedicine – special terminals to test employees with sensors that measure pressure, temperature, pulse, alcohol content in the driver’s exhalation, and transmit data to a medical organization. Previously, such amendments were instructed to be developed by President Vladimir Putin. Telemedicine will allow employers to halve the cost of doctors, the deputies explained. In May 2022, the document was adopted in the first reading, after which it was finalized.

In December, Kommersant was told, the government developed amendments for the second reading, limiting the use of telemedicine. Thus, in particular, drivers who undergo only remote examinations will have to undergo an additional face-to-face examination for drugs and psychotropic substances at least twice a year. In addition, the White House proposed a ban on telemedicine for drivers who carry passengers over 300 km (as part of intercity traffic) or who are engaged in organized transportation of children. These amendments were taken into account in the final version adopted yesterday.

The law will come into force on September 1, 2023. Until that moment, the government will have to issue a document that will describe the “features” of conducting medical examinations using telemedicine, requirements for equipment, software (it should exclude the transmission of false data about drivers), as well as requirements for workers conducting remote examinations.

Ivan Tyazhlov