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Experts passed the training courses in St. Petersburg designed and conducted a series of seminars for the staff of regional expertise committees to share the acquired skills, knowledge and information. |
Series of professional training programs in St. Petersburg’s Institute of Physicians Advanced Training led to strengthening of human and institutional capacity of SMEA.
SMEA made a number of significant institutional, administrative reforms in staff and agencies operation.
Eleven representatives of the Socio-Medical Expertise Agency at the Ministry of Labor and Social Issues of Armenia, including the senior level management staff participated in eight professional training courses at the St. Petersburg Institute of Physicians Advanced Training, one of the most competent scientific institution, famous even from the Soviet times. The whole program lasted from November 2007 to October 2008, whereas each training session lasted for 4 weeks. Armenian participants were impressed by the high quality of expert diagnostics and rehabilitation programs to people with disabilities in order to define vital activity limitation and needs in social protection.
Upon completion of the program, SMEA initiated a number of institutional reforms. Thus:
- Developed and adopted by the Government (Decree N 780-N on July 13, 2008) the Methodological Guideline on Own-Occupation Individual Disability Insurance (IDI). This guideline will help SMEA experts to develop IDIs, containing information on persons’ professional background and current physical and medical conditions as well as experts’ diagnosis on whether or not the person with disabilities has the ability to work at his/her regular occupation. IDI includes also the professional estimation of the working conditions, where the person should work, taking into account the allowable work load, occupational risk, level of stress/tension on a workplace, hygiene and sanitary conditions, etc.
- Like in Russia, starting from 2009, the Socio-Medical Expertise Committees obligatory involve psychologists for expert diagnostics and treatment of psychosomatic diseases (especially among the children).
- Developed Concept Paper on shifting to the European Model of Defining Disability (not by grades, but by percentage of general occupational loss, caused by professional disease or other health problems). The Concept Paper presented to the Ministry of Labor and Social Issues of Armenia for further consideration.
- Established electronic Data Base of all forms, used by experts in their professional activities (previously filled out by hand) (the data base is developed by the Ministry’s “Norq” Information and Analytical Center).
- Seminars, regularly conducted by experts, trained in St. Petersburg for the employees of the regional socio-medical expertise offices. For putting together training materials, experts extensively use the professional literature brought from St. Petersburg, since this literature is not available in Armenia.
Publication Date: 2009-01-15
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