The order of providing payable medical services to foreign subjects

 

The Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Public Health Care” of June 18, 1993

Article 5. The right of foreign subjects and persons without citizenship to available medical service

Foreign subjects and persons without citizenship permanently residing in the Republic of Belarus have the right to available medical service equally with citizens of the Republic of Belarus, unless anything else is determined by the legislative acts of the Republic of Belarus and the international agreements of the Republic of Belarus.Foreign subjects and persons without citizenship temporarily staying or temporarily residing in the Republic of Belarus have the right to available medical service at the expense of their own resources, means of legal entities and other sources not prohibited by the legislation of the Republic of Belarus, unless anything else is determined by the legislative acts of the Republic of Belarus and the international agreements of the Republic of Belarus.

In its turn, the Republic of Belarus concluded a number of international agreements regulating the issues of providing emergency and acute care, as well as scheduled medical care.

For instance, the order of providing medical care for citizens of such CIS member states as Republic Armenia, Republic of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kirghizia, Republic of Moldova, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Uzbekistan and Ukraine is determined by the Agreement on provision of medical care for citizens of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States signed on March 27, 1997 in Moscow (the list of the countries participating in the Agreement is actualized by the Letter of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of 15.07.2014 No18-37/14623).

In particular, in accordance with this Agreement, regardless of the legal status of a citizen on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, medical care is provided in the following order:

• emergency and acute medical care for sudden acute conditions and diseases threatening the patient’s life or nearby people’s health, for accidents, intoxication, traumas, delivery and emergency conditions in pregnancy is provided unhindered, free-of-charge and full-scale.

As soon as the threat to the patient’s life or nearby people’s health is eliminated, and the patient’s transportation is possible, further medical care is provided on a payable basis.

• Scheduled medical care for citizens temporarily staying on the state territory is provided on a payable basis.

In accordance with Article 7 of the Agreement on provision of medical care for citizens of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States, employed under contract (labour agreement), scheduled medical care is provided at the expense of the employer’s resources, their order and scope being envisaged by the contract, or at the expense of citizens’ private means.

In accordance with the above Letter of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Georgia and the Republic of Azerbaijan are not included in the list of the countries participating in this Agreement. Medical care for citizens of these countries is provided in compliance with the Law of the of the Republic of Belarus “On Public Health Care” of June 18, 1993.

The Agreement on mutual granting equal rights to citizens of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kirghizia and Russian Federation in providing emergency and acute medical care of November 24, 1998 is also in force.

The provision of medical care for citizens of Russian Federation is regulated by the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of Russian Federation on providing medical care for citizens of the Republic of Belarus in public health institutions of Russian Federation and for citizens of Russian Federation in public health institutions of the Republic of Belarus; signed on January 24, 2006 in St. Petersburg.
In particular,

Article 3. Citizens of the Republic of Belarus permanently residing in Russian Federation have equal rights with citizens of Russian Federation to be provided with medical care, including free treatment, in state and municipal public health institutions of Russian Federation.

Citizens of Russian Federation permanently residing in the Republic of Belarus have equal rights with citizens of the Republic of Belarus to be provided medical care, including free treatment, in state public health institutions of the Republic of Belarus.

Article 4. Heroes of the Soviet Union and holders of the Order of Glory, First, Second and Third Class being citizens of the Republic of Belarus, have equal rights with citizens of Russian Federation to be provided medical care, including free treatment, in state and municipal public health institutions of Russian Federation.
Heroes of the Soviet Union and holders of the Order of Glory, First, Second and Third Class being citizens of Russian Federation, have equal rights with citizens of the Republic of Belarus to be provided medical care, including free treatment in state public health institutions of the Republic of Belarus.

Article 5. Citizens of the Republic of Belarus temporarily staying and temporarily residing in Russian Federation have equal rights with citizens of Russian Federation to be provided with emergency medical care and medical care for diseases occurring during their stay in Russian Federation and being dangerous for nearby people.
Citizens of Russian Federation temporarily residing in the Republic of Belarus have equal rights with citizens of the Republic of Belarus to be provided emergency medical care and medical care for diseases occurring during their stay in the Republic of Belarus and being socially dangerous.

Article 6. Citizens of the Republic of Belarus temporarily staying and temporarily residing in Russian Federation and employed in institutions (organizations) of Russian Federation under labour agreements have equal rights with citizens of Russian Federation, employed in these institutions (organizations) to be provided medical care in state and municipal public health institutions of Russian Federation.
Citizens of Russian Federation temporarily residing on the territory of the Republic of Belarus and employed in organizations of the Republic of Belarus under labour agreements have equal rights with citizens of the Republic of Belarus, employed in these organizations to be provided medical care in state public health institutions of the Republic of Belarus.. 

Article 7.  Citizens of the Republic of Belarus have the right to be provided medical care in state and municipal public health institutions of Russian Federation at the expense of:
resources of the federal budget of Russian Federation, budgets of Russian Federation subjects, budgets of municipal formations of Russian Federation, in cases specified in Articles 3-6 of this Agreement;
means of mandatory medical insurance in the order determined by the legislation of Russian Federation;
personal means of citizens and other sources not prohibited by the legislation of Russian Federation.
Citizens of Russian Federation have the right to be provided medical care in state public health institutions of the Republic of Belarus at the expense of:
resources of the national and local budgets of the Republic of Belarus, in cases specified in Articles 3-6 of this Agreement;
means of voluntary medical insurance, personal means of citizens and other sources not prohibited by the legislation of the Republic of Belarus.

The Memorandum between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of Turkmenistan about collaboration in the field of public health, medical (pharmaceutical) science, education and provision of medical care for citizens of the Republic of Belarus and Turkmenistan, signed on November 5, 2013 in the City of Ashkhabad, came into force on June 30, 2014.

Article 3 of the Memorandum determines that citizens of one State Party shall be provided acute and emergency medical care (service) on the free-of-charge basis on the territory of the other State Party.

In compliance with the Agreement between Public Health Ministry of the Republic of Belarus and Public Health Ministry of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on collaboration in the field of health care and medical science of April 16, 2002 acute and emergency medical care for citizens of Vietnam, temporarily or permanently residing on the territory of the Republic of Belarus is provided in the scope sufficient for the patient to return to his/her homeland without dangerous after-effects for his/her health. The payment for acute and emergency medical care is made in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Belarus. Specialized scheduled medical care provided by one of the Contacting Parties for citizens of the other Contacting Party is exercised for the patients on the payable basis, the prices being fixed by the country offering the services.

In compliance with the Agreement between Public Health Ministry of the Republic of Belarus and Public Health Ministry of the Syrian Arab Republic on collaboration in the field of health care and medical science of December 9, 2003, medical care for citizens of Syria staying on the territory of the Republic of Belarus is provided on the basis of medical insurance. In the cases of Syrian citizens staying on the territory of the Republic of Belarus and being uncovered by medical insurance, all the costs of medical care provision are paid at the expense of these citizens’ means.

In compliance with the Agreement between the Government of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics and Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on collaboration in the field of medical science and health care, signed in Moscow on February 17, 1975, citizens of the United Kingdom needing emergency care during their stay in the Republic of Belarus in accordance with the legislation currently in force concerning health care in the Republic of Belarus. The costs of medical care provision for these citizens, excluding the costs usually paid by Belarus’ citizens, are paid by authorized bodies of the Republic of Belarus.

In accordance with the Letter of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus of 17.07.2015 No18-19/15974, the Agreement between the Government of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on collaboration in the field of medical science and health care is terminated since December 25, 2015.

Since the date of the Agreement termination, medical care for citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland shall be provided in accordance with the national legislation of the Republic of Belarus, particularly with Article 5 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Public Health” of June 18, 1993.

Take notice that the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of April 14, 2014 No165 “On Adopting Amendments and Supplements to the Decrees of the President of the Republic of Belarus on the Issues of Insurance Activities” has taken effect since July 1, 2014. In compliance with this Decree, the order and terms of mandatory medical insurance of foreign citizens and persons without citizenship temporarily staying or temporarily residing Republic of Belarus have been changed.