Trainings for Medical Social Expertise Commissions of Armenia by leading experts from St. Petersburg

Ведущие специалисты из Санкт-Петербурга провели тренинг для медицинских социальных комиссий Армении
26 February 2018
On February 13-23, 2018 UNDP Armenia Country office hosted experts from Saint Petersburg Institute of Education and Requalification of doctors-experts in medical-social expertise. The assignment was supported by the Knowledge management and Capacity Building in Russia-UNDP Partnership project. 

Five leading experts of the Institute, including professors and assistant professors led by the Head of the Institute Professor Viktor Pomnikov provided a comprehensive training for the doctors of Medical Social Expertise Commissions of Armenia (MSEC) on “General, methodological, international rights-based issues of medical-social expertise in view of International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), rehabilitation and abilitation of persons with disabilities”. The training included both general sections for the entire group of medical-social experts, and was successfully complemented by thematic group-training for surgeons, therapists and neurologists.  

“This was a well-structured extensive training on main issues of disability assessment and service provision. Extremely useful to learn from the experience of a country that passed a similar development process related to the old systems of disability assessment. The array of rehabilitation services provided by the Russian Government, including the consideration of social aspects and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities, is commendable and worth learning from”, said Anna Hakobyan, head of the Division on Disabled Persons of the Department of Disabled and Elderly Persons of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Armenia.

Speaking about the international human rights framework, the experts advised the participants (doctors) as well as policy makers to operate in compliance and with due reference to the principles enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  
“Looking at the rights of persons with disabilities through the prism of the Convention was very useful especially for our work. It serves as a vector for where we want to be in the long run and how we should turn the technical process into a rights-based approach”, said Nune Shahverdyan, acting Head of Medical Social Expertise Agency of RA. 

At the end of the training, the participants received certificates for successful accomplishment of the course. 

The experts had de-brief meetings with the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs and UNDP DRR/RR a.i. UNDP Armenia CO plans to establish an analytical and research platform in Armenia for knowledge generation and exchange on disability issues between similar institutions globally. Given the strong analytical capacity of the St. Petersburg Institute and their wealth of experience in this area, UNDP Armenia will continue cooperation with the Institute, including among other, on this specific component. 

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