MontenegrinCentre for Consumers’ Protection (CEZAP) and CeMI organized the training for Ombudsmen for patients’ rights on 13th and 14th May in Hotel „City“ in Podgorica.
During the two-day training, ombudsmen had the opportunity to gain more knowledge on their work and jurisdiction, especially towards the marginalized groups members and their families, as well as on the transparency, reporting and other standards of similar institutions from the region and the European Union.
Lecturers were doctors Branislav Petrovic and Mensud Grbovic.
The training covered following subjects:
- The EU standards regarding the protection of patients;
- Why is the performance of ombudsmen in healthcare institutions significant?
- How to determine the most vulnerable groups and their specific problems regarding the healthcare protection?
- Transparency and the efficiency of ombudsmen;
- Work and reporting procedures of ombudsmen.
During the discussion, ombudsmen had the opportunity to speak about their point of view of the condition of this field, as well as about the problems that occurred during their work and the way they solved them.
After the completed training, through the evaluation of ombudsmen, the following was concluded:
- The Law on Patients’ Rights should be amended in several segments: who can be an ombudsman (profile, education), rights and obligations of ombudsmen, rights and obligation of patients who use the right for appeal, etc.;
- Health inspection role should be defined;
- The role of the Ministry of Health should be defined;
- Communication between the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Ombudsman in healthcare institutions should be established;
- Civil sector role regarding the realization of patients’ rights and right to appeal should be defined.
At the end of the training, present ombudsmen also gave their views of the training that they expressed through the evaluation. Comments are mostly positive, present ombudsmen expressed their wish to organize more similar trainings in the future.
The training was held within the project „Health Care System and Patients’ Rights in Montenegro – Winning Citizens’ Confidence“, which is funded by the European Union represented by the Delegation of the Europan Union in Montenegro.
