The Verkhovna Rada registered draft law No. 12178, which eliminates the outdated system of medical and social examination (MSEC) and provides for the creation of an updated digital system.
The initiator of the document is the Cabinet of Ministers.
The explanatory note states that the current MSEC system appeared even before Ukraine gained independence and does not meet either modern challenges or current approaches to establishing disability accepted in the world.
The new draft law proposes to replace the term "medical and social examination" with the term "assessment of the daily functioning of a person."
Among other offers:
- to establish that the assessment of a personʼs daily functioning is carried out by relevant expert commissions formed in cluster and super-cluster health care institutions;
- to fix the list of functions of expert commissions and assign to them the establishment of a disability group, referral for an additional examination, planning and conducting a re-examination.
The Ministry of Health previously explained that the new draft law also introduces a number of changes, in particular:
- there will be no need for medical advisory commissions. Treating doctors will be able to send for evaluation, and servicemen — doctors of the military medical commissions (MMCs) on the basis of clear criteria with the help of an electronic system;
- the person will be able to involve his authorized representative, for example, a doctor, who will be able to explain the patientʼs case to the assessment process;
- determine which doctors have the right to conduct evaluations and which do not;
- mechanisms for appealing the decisions of such teams will be introduced.
The new evaluation system will be financed through the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU).
What preceded
On October 23, the Ministry of Health declared that by the end of the year, the central MSEC will be liquidated. This decision was preceded by a scandal with the head of the Khmelnytskyi Regional MSEC Tetyana Krupa. She is suspected of illegal enrichment for millions of hryvnias in the case of illegal registration of disability for men. During the searches, she was found with millions of dollars in cash, as well as undeclared assets and millions in foreign accounts.
Subsequently, the publication Censor.NET stated that Krupa was involved in granting a disability group to 51 officials of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutorʼs Office. Because of this, the head of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutorʼs Office Oleksiy Oliynyk was dismissed at his own request, and on October 22, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin also resigned.
On October 29, the Verkhovna Rada supported the draft law on improving the medical and social expert commission. What it provides — read here. In addition, it became known that the current heads of MSEC will not be admitted to positions in the updated system of medical commissions. But other doctors who currently work at MSEC will be able to apply for a job at the hospital from January 1, 2025, but only on the condition of conducting medical practice.
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