no. 07-00-619/2023-02 date: 11.3.2024.

OPINION

The opinion was issued in the proceedings regarding the complaint filed by Foundation A. A. against Polyclinics B. B. due to discrimination based on health status. The Association informed the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality of its intention to conduct, in accordance with Art. 46, paragraph 4 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination, a situational testing of “potential discrimination against persons living with HIV in the field of health care provision” in order to directly check whether employees in medical institutions comply with the rules on prohibition of discrimination when providing their services. In the complaint, it was stated that on November 22, 2023, at 12:47, the tester called Polyclinic B. B. and asked to make an appointment for circumcision and that a “male person” informed him that the price was 36,000 dinars. It was pointed out that the appointment was scheduled for November 23, 2023, after which the tester informed the polyclinic employee that he was a person with HIV+ status. The employee “stated that he didn’t think it would be a problem but that he needed to check with the doctor”. He stated that he was called from the polyclinic at 1:28 p.m. and the appointment was confirmed, however, the next day, November 23, 2023, at 10:59 a.m., he received an SMS message canceling the appointment “because they are unable to comply with the procedure related to the patient’s health condition”. Then, at 11:57 a.m. came a call from polyclinic B. B. and a female employee informed the tester that they were canceling the intervention “because they don’t have the conditions in the operating room”. In the statement, among other things, it was stated that it is indisputable that the scheduled appointment was later canceled, but due to technical reasons because the laboratory’s germicidal UV lamp stopped working, and since the employees did not have information on when the malfunction would be fixed, they informed the patient about the technical problem with an apology to try to make an appointment at another institution. In this specific case, the employees informed the patient that the appointment was canceled due to the lack of conditions in the operating room and that his health condition, HIV+ status, was of no consequence. A report on the defect of the laboratory germicidal lamp was attached. During the procedure, it was established that Polyclinic B. B. canceled the surgical intervention – circumcision of the tester, because they are a person living with HIV, considering that they informed the tester via SMS message as well as in a telephone conversation that they could not perform the scheduled intervention due to the patient’s health condition. The fact that there was a malfunction of the germicidal UV lamp in the operating room was not communicated to the tester as a reason for postponing the intervention, nor was the tester given the opportunity to postpone the surgical procedure due to the technical failure of the UV lamp. The Commissioner came to the opinion that by canceling the surgical intervention to the voluntary discrimination auditor (tester) after they communicated their HIV status, Polyclinic B. B. violated the provisions of Article 6 in connection with Article 27 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination. The Polyclinic was recommended to ensure the provision of health services to people living with HIV in the future and to act in accordance with anti-discrimination regulations within the scope of its duties.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY
Brankica Janković