At the July 23 Legislative Chamber meeting, the MPs passed the Providing psychological assistance to the public Bill, the press service of the Chamber said.
The Bill, drafted by a group of MPs, was passed in the first reading on June 25. Afterwards, the bill was submitted for public input on the website of the chamber. Reportedly, MPs also received proposals from the public during meetings in constituencies.
The BIll will regulate the provision of psychological assistance to the public in Uzbekistan, including the legal consolidation of the content of the basic concepts of providing psychological assistance, as well as its basic principles, objectives, forms and standards.
The types of psychological assistance are: psychological prevention, psychological examination, psychological rehabilitation, psychological correction, psychological recommendation, psychological training.
According to the Bill, standards for psychological care shall be developed and approved by the Ministry of Health.
“That is, various psychologists [on social networks] will not be able to create standards for psychological assistance themselves,” said Nurdinjon Ismoilov, speaker of the Legislative Chamber.
In addition, the bill outlined the rights and obligations of participants in the field of psychological assistance, the categories of persons who receive free psychological assistance, issues of providing this assistance in educational organizations, conducting research and scientific experiments in this area, the basis for refusing or terminating the provision of psychological assistance are specified.
The Bill also creates a legal basis for the activities of public associations of registered psychologists in this area.
Psychological assistance can be provided in government agencies and other organizations, as well as by legal entities or individual entrepreneurs in private. Such assistance can only be provided by persons with higher education in this field who do not need to obtain a certificate.
Persons with higher education in another field can take retraining courses in psychology and, after receiving the Bill, work in private and government organizations, including educational institutions. But they can only provide psychological advice and conduct training; they will be prohibited from conducting psychological prevention, examination, rehabilitation and correction.
Psychologists working privately will also be required to obtain a certificate of qualification from a public association.
According to the Bill, individuals are free to choose a psychologist, the form, type and conditions of psychological assistance, receive an extract from the document on the form, type and other information about the psychological assistance provided to them, and are also entitled for confidentiality of their personal information.
The Bill defines measures of liability for providing psychological assistance in educational institutions, conducting research and scientific experiments in this area, as well as providing psychological assistance to a person who does not have the right to provide psychological assistance.
Providing psychological assistance by a person who does not have such a right, or failure to comply with the restrictions established by the legislation on the provision of psychological assistance, may entail a fine for individuals in the amount of 5 to 10, and for officials - from 10 to 15 basic calculatoin values.
Cases involving such offenses will be heard by criminal courts.
