Get forward, into digital slavery: feeding children with "milk" in Moscow is possible by QR-codes only

Irina Mishina

The experiment started last year. On December 13, 2021, the Moscow Health Department issued Order No. 1240 with the ornate title “On Improving the Organization of Free Food Provision,” which included a provision on the QR-code. On the Web, many regarded this as an infringement of rights and coercion to "digital slavery".

How the website of the mayor of Moscow took control of children

“Parents of toddlers in Moscow faced a problem: they were denied access to milk distribution points when distributing dairy products purchased at the expense of the city budget. QR-codes are required for every child, even for a newborn. A decent proportion of parents refuse this for various reasons and do not receive baby food. There are 5 children in our family, we need reduced-price baby food. But we ran into a problem: the head of the polyclinic department, when we applied, tore up the prescription for a dairy kitchen, and the head of the polyclinic, Galina Ukhanova, refused to prescribe such a referral to the child, citing “lack of technical feasibility”. That is, apparently, the lack of a pen or paper”, - says Olga Grebenyuk, mother of many children.

From information on mos.ru.

"Dear users! If you have already submitted an application for meals in a dairy kitchen, you can view the QR-code for receiving an order in your personal my.mos.ru account in the section “Applications by Notifications - Service Statuses”. The service allows you to independently (bypassing the doctor's office): order food in a dairy kitchen (receive a special QR-code required to receive food); change the point of issue of products; manage the schedule for receiving food (including choosing on the calendar specific days for visiting the point of issue); view information about the received products.

But, as they say, everything went smoothly only on paper... Families began to have a variety of problems when receiving preferential meals using QR-codes. From social media posts:

Olga Agapova: “I encountered inconvenience. Initially, there is no longer a choice by date. There are some downsides to this ruling. Choosing a convenient day or changing it is not as easy as they describe, and basically even impossible. And if I issued a code, for example, on the 8th, then nothing can be changed, only the way it is generated by the program. What if I get sick that day, how can I get it then? For my family, past meal conditions were more convenient”.

Margarita Savelyeva: “Mos.ru does not allow a dairy kitchen to be issued to a newborn, since the MHI policy is temporary. And on the site they ask you to enter the policy number of a new or old model... There is no function for introducing a temporary policy. I called the hotline of dairy kitchens in Moscow, explained the situation... They didn’t know what to answer and hung up the phone ”

Lelka Bolshakova: “It used to be more convenient. On any day of the month it was possible to pick up food, at least at the beginning, at least at the end, he came and received it. Now, if you haven’t submitted an application before the 15th, no food for you. What if you forgot? Thank you, all for the people!!!".

In addition to newborns who do not have a permanent policy, the list of “refuseees” to receive baby food also includes some parents who live in the Moscow Region, but are temporarily registered with Moscow polyclinics. They can receive preferential baby food exclusively on paper. Which Moscow points of distribution of "milk" do not recognize. A logical question also arises: what about those who do not have, for example, neither the Internet nor gadgets? Or is the Moscow government not even considering such an option? But the income of not every family allows you to buy a laptop and even a smartphone.

And is it legal at all?

By the way, it is interesting that the order of the Department of Health does not exclude the receipt of baby food according to a certificate on paper. In particular, the order number 1240 dated December 13, 2021, signed by the head of the Moscow City Health Department A. I. Khripun, states:

“In order to improve the organization of providing free food to certain categories of children and women who are residents of the city of Moscow, to introduce modern digital technologies into the practice of providing certain categories of children and women who are residents of the city of Moscow with free food, I order: ... to ensure: 2.2. Issuance of paper conclusions of doctors for the free distribution of food products to certain categories of children and women... 3.1. Free distribution of food products to preferential categories of citizens on the basis of unique codes in machine-readable format (QR-codes ) issued in electronic form...".

That is, the order provides for a two-fold form of “milk” leave for children. So who and why decided that without QR-codes, children are not entitled to preferential meals?

The righteous anger of the parents of Moscow kids reached the Moscow City Duma. MHD deputy Yelena Shuvalova turned to lawyer Ruslan Trofimov. Here is his conclusion:

“Issuing preferential meals for children exclusively through QR-codes is an illegal measure. The fact is that any local act of the Moscow Health Department is subject to execution exclusively by employees of the Moscow DZ. FZ-323 "On the protection of the health of citizens" in its article 52 regulates the receipt of food in the dairy kitchen at the conclusion of a doctor. The law does not say anything about any QR-codes. A request was made to the Ministry of Justice, from where the answer came that Order No. 1240 of the DZ of Moscow is not a regulatory legal act. Thus, the orders of the Moscow Health Department contradict the federal ones. In addition, the rules established by Moscow polyclinics when issuing reduced-price baby food can be seen as elements of blackmail: if you don’t want to fill out a QR-code, you won’t receive reduced-price meals for a child”.

Digital slavery from the cradle?

There is something unhealthy in the general digitalization of all Muscovites, including newborns. “This huge digital empire mos.ru subjugates absolutely all citizens of Moscow, including children. First, she subjugated schoolchildren through the MES resource, and now they have taken on newborns and the smallest ones. Moreover, this huge mos.ru empire is trying to subjugate the federal structures and the federal government. I sent a deputy's request to the Moscow prosecutor, in which I asked for an assessment of the requirement for mandatory registration on the mos.ru website with information about children and their private lives. I also asked for an answer where it goes and how products that are not issued to children who do not have QR-codes and, accordingly, access to dairy cuisine are used”, - Moscow City Council deputy Yelena Shuvalova told NI.

While the Moscow prosecutor is studying the deputy's request sent to him on November 23, 2022, the parents of Moscow kids continue to go through all the circles of hell that are now due to everyone in order to receive preferential baby food.