Private and Confidential Consultation

Private and Confidential Consultation

Providing consultation to patients in privacy is an important precondition and guarantee, which is stipulated in the Law on Medical Aid and Population Services. This is often violated in case of victims of domestic violence.42 During the medical consultation many women victims are accompanied by their husbands and/or mothers-in-law. This creates a serious impediment to receiving accurate information about the health situation of the patient. Fear of reprisal does not allow the victim to divulge to her doctor personal problems or domestic abuse if she is in the presence of the abuser, nor does the doctor have the opportunity to refer the victim to a support center. Therefore, an opportunity to prevent and combat DV is lost.

Recommendations:

1. Train doctors and nurses on the specificity of domestic violence, and inform them on how to offer consultation to the victims of violence;

2. Develop procedures and mechanisms for doctors to report cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse while assessing all possible risks;

3. Mandate through internal order that the patient -doctor consultation takes place in private settings, excluding the presence of abuser and other persons accompanying the victims of domestic violence;

42 Interview with the representative of Women’s Support Center NGO