no. 07-00-223 / 2021-02 date: 4.8.2021.

OPINION

The opinion was issued in the proceedings regarding the complaint of A.A. filed against the Republic Health Insurance Fund (RHIF), the Commission, on the grounds of health condition. The complainant stated, inter alia, that as a severe systemic patient since February 2012, she has been receiving biological therapy in Belgrade at the Institute of Rheumatology, and that on March 17, 2021, she was orally informed at the Institute of Rheumatology in Belgrade that in the future she will continue to receive biological therapy at the Clinical Center Kragujevac, as of May this year. She pointed out that the decision was made by the Commission, and that she was discriminated against on the basis of her health condition, because her health is impaired and that she must continue biological therapy in Belgrade because she has been treated at the Institute of Rheumatology since 2012, at the Eye Clinic in Belgrade due to glaucoma since 2010 and by a cardiologist at the Military Medical Academy. The statement on the complaint by B. B. Acting Director of the RHIF, as well as the President of the RHIF Commission, inter alia, stated that at the 80th session held on May 11, 2021, the RHIF Commission, based on documentation submitted by the Institute of Rheumatology, approved the continuation of therapy with the medicine “Simponi” (golimumab) at the Institute for Rheumatology in Belgrade, at the personal request of the patient, for a period of 3 months, and that accordingly, the complainant’s claim that the RHIF Commission made a decision to continue therapy at the University Clinical Center Kragujevac is incorrect. It was also stated that the University Clinical Center Kragujevac, in accordance with the legal regulations governing the health care system in the Republic of Serbia, is a tertiary health care institution, the same as the Institute of Rheumatology in Belgrade, and that for this reason it cannot be said that the conditions for treatment, that is, receiving biological therapy at the University Clinical Center Kragujevac are inadequate. During the procedure, it was determined that the RHIF, the Commission, did not make a decision to change the health institution in which the complainant will continue to receive biological therapy, and that at the 80th session of the RHIF Commission held on May 11, 2021, approved the continuation of A.A.’s therapy at the Institute of Rheumatology in Belgrade. In addition, the Commissioner stated that based on the decision of the Ministry of Health, the Clinical Center Kragujevac was included in the reference centers for the application of biological therapy. Having in mind the above, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality gave the opinion that the RHIF, the Commission for approving the use of etanercept, infliximab, rituximab, adalimumab, tocilizumab, golimumab, secukinumab, tofacitinib and baricitinib did not violate the provisions of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Brankica Janković