The Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan convened for a meeting under the chairmanship of Speaker Maulen Ashimbayev.
At the meeting, MPs discussed the draft Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On the Health of the People and the Healthcare System" and the related bill "On Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Health Issues".
As a follow-up for a comprehensive discussion of the bills, the Senate decided to forward them to the Majilis with proposed changes and additions.
According to Senate’s Speaker Maulen Ashimbayev, the bills will generate a new impetus to the development of a national healthcare system.
"The draft Code was addressed and discussed in all aspects by all the Senate committees. Certain recommendations were produced after public discussions over the issues. This was followed by the Senate making some important changes to the draft Code "On the health of the people and the healthcare system" and the related bill. All amendments are primarily designed to make sure instructions issued by the Head of State at the third session of the National Council for Public Trust in relation to healthcare are fulfilled. In general, I’m certain that the Code and the associated bill will help strengthen the health of the nation, contribute to better domestic medicine, and will protect the rights of medical workers,” said Maulen Ashimbayev.
Thus, amendments to Code’s Article 77 bring forward a clarification that citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan have the right to "provide informed consent or refusal of treatment and other medical interventions, including preventive vaccinations".
Article 78 proposes to abolish the wording on the child’s rights to receive information on reproductive health protection in an accessible form “in order to prevent unwanted pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted infections”. The amendments underpin the right of children only to “receive information on reproductive health protection in an accessible form”.
Amendments to the bill clearly govern and systematize the right of chief state sanitary doctor to enact restrictive measures in response to a threat of epidemics and infectious diseases.
In addition, pursuant to President Tokayev’s instruction given at the third meeting of the National Council for Public Trust, legislative regulation of the responsibility of medical personnel for “malpractice” was addressed.
The Criminal Code retains special chapter, "Medical criminal offenses" consisting of 7 articles. Due to its low degree of public danger, a violation of clinical trial procedure and the use of new methods and prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation means, if it has not been committed by officials or did not lead to serious consequences, is now considered as an administrative violation.
In order to make sure doctors and physicians are not prosecuted on groundless accusations, it is envisaged that an expert commission’s report will be necessary to initiate a criminal case.
The Senate approved related changes to the country’s Criminal and Procedural Code.
The MPs also had two readings and adopted the Law “On Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Improving Enforcement and Criminal Law”.
The document was drafted pursuant to the instructions of Head of State. The main purpose of the bill is to increase efficiency of enforcement of court decisions and enactments of other authorities, with the aim of enabling real protection of violated or contested subjective material rights or interests protected by laws. One of the main goals of the bill is to decriminalize libel also.
The draft law aims to optimize the procedural documents and actions to be adopted by a bailiff and to identify the sequence of these actions; govern private court bailiffs; improve the disciplinary practices of private court bailiffs; introduce digital technologies, increase transparency and accessibility of the enforcement system for the parties to enforcement proceedings; improve criminal and administrative law in the implementation of constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens.
The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Regulation of Digital Technologies” was adopted after two readings.
The objectives of the bill are to establish an authority for personal data protection and its main roles; regulate public relations related to the use of digital technologies and generate conditions for projects to be delivered in information and communication technologies realm; and establish the legal framework for a national CCTV system.
Once adopted, the law will strengthen statutory safeguards in protecting personal data; delineate roles of industrial, innovative and foreign trade authorities; identify an "intellectual robot" concept legislatively; and establish an authority responsible for delivering a public policy in electronic industry, etc.
In addition, the Law “On Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Consumer Protection” was discussed and adopted.
The purpose of the bill is to keep improving relations in the area of protecting consumers’ rights, strengthen the role and status of an institute of pre-trial resolution of consumer disputes as well as to make sure business owes more social and financial responsibility to consumers.
The law will help introduce a 3-step system for handling consumer complaints; set up an Interagency Consumer Rights Protection Council, which will be an advisory board under the Government of the RoK. The bill enforces measures to protect the rights and legitimate interests of consumers; pins down an institutional system to protect them; identified representatives of consumers; and governs state control over compliance with the consumer rights laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Amendments to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Road Transport” in terms of tracking international road transport” was adopted.
The purpose of the bill is to set up a system for tracking transit transport using navigation seals and its infrastructure, to determine the national operator for such a system and the procedure for how it should interface, including with state bodies of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union.
The main objectives of the bill are to establish the competence of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan to identify by tender a national operator of tracking systems for international transportation in accordance with the public procurement laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan; nail down the legislation on the use of navigation seals in road vehicles through the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as to settle aspects of interaction, rental of seals, and responsibility.
