ANALYSIS OF THE LEGAL, ORGANIZATIONAL AND COMMODITY PRINCIPLES OF PROVIDING THE POPULATION WITH REHABILITATION WALKING AIDS

Abstract

The article discusses the modern legal, organisational and commodity fundamentals of providing the population of Ukraine with assistive (technical) devices for walking. It shows that, in accordance with national legislation, the provision of such devices is included in the system of measures for the rehabilitation of persons with limitations in their everyday functioning. It is emphasised that the current regulatory and legal acts of Ukraine provide for legal and organisational mechanisms for providing citizens with: 1) rehabilitation in the healthcare system, regardless of whether they have acquired the status of a person (child) with a disability; 2) social protection for persons with disabilities. It emphasises the importance of rehabilitation specialists, as well as medical, pharmaceutical and social workers, being able to navigate classification groups of rehabilitation aids, codes and product labelling. Such skills ensure the high-quality provision of rehabilitation, medical, pharmaceutical and social assistants to various categories of persons in terms of the correct choice of device, its justified prescription and rational use. It is noted that a systematic approach to the classification and labelling of walking aids ensures uniform identification and simplifies the process of registration, accounting and selection of aids. The features of the classification system for walking aids in the international standard ISO 9999:2022 are revealed, which is implemented using alphanumeric codes, in which the numerical indices reflect the product's belonging to a specific category or subgroup. The presented material is of practical importance for rehabilitation specialists, medical, pharmaceutical and social professionals, as it is aimed at providing methodological assistance on the application of legislation on the provision of assistive devices to the population.