Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva sent a recommendation to the Minister of Health, Prof. Dr. Hristo Hinkov, and the Minister of the Interior, Kalin Stoyanov, in which she insists that a list of medicines that give a false positive drug test be drawn up.

28 August 2023

Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva sent a recommendation to the Minister of Health, Prof. Dr. Hristo Hinkov, and the Minister of the Interior, Kalin Stoyanov, in which she insists that a list of medicines that give a false positive drug test be drawn up.

“At the moment there is no official list of medicines that affect a test, so I think it would be good to create a working group on the matter or the Expert Council of the National Drug Council could give an expert opinion on the effects of different medicines during a test, and to compile a list that is open and can be supplemented”, writes Prof. Kovacheva.

“I believe that knowledge of the medicines that can lead to a false positive drug test would significantly reduce the negative consequences of a possible false result, as it would allow the necessary precautions to be taken before driving and, accordingly, “testing”, the Ombudsman points out. 

Prof. Kovacheva notes that taking different medicines from several pharmacological groups can affect the result of a drug test, as even small concentrations of them can resemble some of the prohibited narcotic substances and this is a publicly known fact.

 She adds that this includes over-the-counter medications. Examples may include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, analgesics, decongestants, drugs for dry cough, antibiotics, antihistamines, antihypertensive agents, oral antidiabetics, antidepressants and antipsychotics, psychostimulants and other.

“In this respect, I find that the significant negative consequences for citizens of a false positive test are disproportionate to the harmless, in their opinion, medicines that they are unaware of the possibility of resembling a drug in a test. Moreover, in practice, in view of the consequences, a sign of equality is placed between a person who has taken, for example, a cough medicine and a person who has consciously taken a narcotic substance and sat behind the wheel”, the Ombudsman writes.

“There is no doubt that one of the main reasons for the continuing war on the roads is the use of psychoactive substances, such as alcohol and drugs. In addition to the measures taken, which I hope will produce results, I believe that citizens should be officially informed about the possibility of a medicine they take to give a positive drug test”, emphasises Prof. Kovacheva.

She emphasizes that her recommendation is in no way aimed at exonerating and removing responsibility from perpetrators, but is aimed at a timely prevention of possible crimes as a result of unconscious use of medicines that lead to positive control tests and at limiting the cases of conscious intake of psychoactive substances, on which the efforts of the competent authorities should focus.

Marino Fardelli, Presidente del Coordinamento Nazionale dei Difensori civici italiani e Difensore Civico della Regione Lazio, ha annunciato come le prestigiose Università di Roma, “La Sapienza”, “Tor Vergata” e “RomaTre”, e l’Università di Cassino abbiano concesso il loro patrocinio all’importante iniziativa in programma a Roma il 21 e 22 settembre 2023, la conferenza internazionale degli Ombudsman (Difensori civici), dal titolo “Il ruolo dell’Ombudsman nel mondo: tra realtà e possibilità”.

L’evento, che si svolgerà nei giorni 21 e 22 settembre prossimi presso la Camera dei Deputati, Sala dei Gruppi parlamentari (Via Campo Marzio, 78), rappresenterà, ha dichiarato Fardelli, “un momento cruciale di discussione e riflessione sui temi della difesa civica e dei diritti umani”.

“Il patrocinio accordato da queste istituzioni accademiche rafforza l’importanza e la rilevanza della Conferenza nel contesto internazionale”, così ancora Fardelli. “Questo atto di sostegno da parte delle Università sottolinea la serietà e l’urgenza dei temi trattati, che riguardano la promozione della giustizia sociale, della trasparenza e della tutela dei diritti dei cittadini”, ha proseguito il Difensore civico del Lazio.

La Conferenza Internazionale degli Ombudsman riunirà Difensori Civici, rappresentanti governativi, esperti e accademici provenienti da tutto il mondo. Sarà un’occasione unica per condividere esperienze, best practices e approfondire il ruolo fondamentale dei Difensori Civici nel garantire una governance aperta e responsabile.

More than 200 Newham residents are to have their rejected applications for Freedom Passes reviewed following an Ombudsman investigation.

The Ombudsman has uncovered flaws with the way the council considered applications for the concessionary travel passes, following a complaint from a disabled resident.

Despite the man including supporting documents from the NHS about his disability, and the fact he was on a waiting list for a hip replacement, London Borough of Newham rejected his application.

The man appealed, but this too was rejected, so he complained to the Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman found the council did not have a specific policy in place for determining Freedom Pass applications, and the way it carried out assessments was not in line with guidance.

Paul Najsarek, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:

“We expect councils to follow guidance unless they have a valid reason not to. In this case, the council’s assessment process lacked transparency and officers did not consider whether it was necessary to offer the man an independent medical assessment before deciding his application.

“We also found the council did not deal with the man’s application or appeal in a timely fashion.

“I am pleased the council quickly accepted fault in this case, and has agreed to revisit the cases of other people who may have been affected by its lack of proper policy. By putting a new policy in place, the council should prevent this situation happening to other people.”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman remedies injustice and shares learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services. In this case the council has agreed to apologise to the man and pay him a combined £400 for the uncertainty and avoidable frustration the situation has caused the man. It will also request relevant evidence from the man and reconsider his application.

The Ombudsman has the power to make recommendations to improve processes for the wider public. In this case the council has agreed to produce a new policy in line with Department for Transport guidance and publish this on its website.

It will also review 238 rejected Freedom Pass applications it refused in the financial year 2022-23 in line with its new policy.

Article date: 07 September 2023

The Ombudsman welcomes the approval of the new legal regime for the land registry (Decree-Law no. 72/2023, of 23 August), in the expectation that it will overcome the long delays in administrative complaint procedures (PRA) for the rectification of errors and/or the updating of elements in the land registry.

The administrative complaint procedure in force until now required the opinion of the Directorate-General for Territory and, due to a lack of human and material resources, it took an average of around 11 months to be issued – but the Ombudsman’s Office has received complaints about procedures where that deadline was far exceeded.

At the end of 2020, the Ombudsman signalled this problem to the Secretary of State for Nature Conservation, Forests and Spatial Planning, stating that this was an intolerable delay, which could cause damage not only to the individuals concerned, but also to the economy in general, and asked the government to adopt appropriate measures to overcome the problem.

With the approval of the new legal regime for the land registry, the administrative complaint procedure (PRA) for rectifying errors and/or updating elements in the land registry is being replaced by a new one, with the electronic platform BUPi (Balcão Único do Prédio) becoming the means of interaction for citizens with the Directorate-General for Spatial Planning, guaranteeing the interoperability of data held by public administration bodies.