Work on a new procedure for obtaining medical certificates for drivers is scheduled to be completed in 2020. This was announced in an interview with RIA Novosti by the Deputy Minister of Health of Russia Oleg Salagay.
According to him, the departments are close in their positions on changes in the rules of medical certification on key issues. In the near future, it is planned to start discussions at the level of a specific normative act.
At the same time, Salagai said that the order must be balanced. The new rules should not only allow the identification of alcoholics among drivers, but also provide the regions with the widest possible range of modern methods.
Since November 22 last year, the Ministry of Health planned to change the rules for medical examination of drivers in Russia. According to them, in order to obtain a certificate from a narcologist, it was necessary to donate blood and urine to identify psychoactive substances and the CDT marker, which indicates regular alcohol consumption. In case of positive results, the person should have been sent to a narcological dispensary for examination by a psychiatrist-narcologist and laboratory tests.
Due to new research, the cost of the certificate should have increased several times. On November 21, the last day of the old rules, huge queues gathered around the dispensaries, as a result, the Ministry of Health was forced to postpone the innovation.
The President of Russia also criticized the new rules. Putin noted that giving 5 thousand rubles for a certificate is unacceptable for people who receive a salary equal to the minimum wage.
In June 2020, the Ministry of Health prepared a draft amendment to the rules of medical examination for drivers. According to the new procedure, in order to obtain a medical certificate, motorists will need to be tested for alcohol consumption only if the narcologist identifies symptoms of the disease. At the same time, the old procedure for obtaining certificates is maintained until 2021.
