Pharmacies will be equipped ramps for the disabled
The Prime Minister of Ukraine charged the Ministry of Health together with the Ministry of regional development with drafting the changes to the pharmacies’ and medical institutions’ licensing terms. The changes in question would secure free access to the premises for the persons with disabilities. This time licensing terms regarding the premises’ technical conditions should be unambiguous, well thought out, and compliance with them should be obligatory for all.
This instruction has been triggered by the decision of Dnipropetrovsk Court of Appeal, which on 11 December 2012 issued a judgment on the lawsuit of Dmytro Zharyi who has to use a wheelchair to move around. Due to the ramp installed incorrectly, he wasn’t able to get into the local pharmacy in order to get necessary medicine. The court, by its decision, has ordered the State Administration of Ukraine on Medical Products to look into the possibility of stripping the pharmacy in question from its license for retail of medicines according to the demands of the Law of Ukraine “On licensing of certain types of economic activity”.
Earlier Dmytro Zharyi underwent a training “Strategic court lawsuits on combating discrimination”, organized by Kharkiv Regional Foundation “Civic Alternative” and supported by the International Renaissance Foundation’s Rule of Law Program. That was exactly where the idea was born, that the humiliating custom of some pharmacies to install ramps just “for the record”, thus denying access to people with disabilities, should be challenged – and changed – in the court room. “This problem concerns not only myself personally, – it affects all persons with disabilities in Ukraine, and it’s not limited just to pharmacies. Thus I’ve decided to try to set a precedent which can show, that a person with a disability can defend his rights in the court, – as I’m a lawyer and I’m aware of more than just my own rights. I do all the work myself, and I also bear all the costs. It was intentional that I haven’t included any single hryvnya of compensation for moral damage inflicted upon me into the list of claims: thereby, no one can accuse me of acting being motivated by greed” – Dmytro Zharyi said.
Let us recall that the Law “On the principles of prevention and combating discrimination in Ukraine” came into force on 4 October 2012. This Law does not only prohibit discrimination by disability among other grounds, but also stipulates the state’s duty to enforce positive measures: “special temporary or permanent action, aimed at elimination of the legal or factual inequality of opportunities for a person and/or a group of persons to fulfill equal rights and freedoms granted to them by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine”.
Coalition for Combating Discrimination in Ukraine expresses its hope that the Cabinet of Ministers’ initiative regarding changes to the pharmacies’ and medical institutions’ licensing terms, that would secure free access to the premises for the persons with disabilities, becomes the first, but not the last one, aimed at the real counteraction against discrimination.
Contacts:
Rule of Law Program
Liana Moroz
(+380 44) 482 03 63
moroz@irf.ua
***
The aim of the Rule of Law Program is to support the civil society initiatives directed to the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, to promote strengthened legal consciousness and public activity at the central and local levels.
