President Volodymyr Zelensky signed draft law No. 11225 on the improvement of the medical and social expert commission (MSEC).
This is stated in the card of the draft law.
The document modernizes the MSEC procedure through:
- the possibility of online participation of people in the MSEC meetings, which will reduce the cost of time and money for patients;
- changes in the procedure for establishing disability: it is proposed to examine peopleʼs documents for examination instead of personal presence;
- entering information about the results of MSEC into the electronic health care system (EHCS) to simplify doctorsʼ access to data and speed up decision-making and transparency.
Also, according to the draft law, lawyers or other authorized representatives of people with disabilities will have the right to be present at the meeting of MSEC. In addition, patients will be able to invite their doctors to the meeting. They will be able to independently photograph or record the meeting, as well as the documents formed by the commission during the consideration of their case.
In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine should establish the maximum terms during which the meeting of MSEC must be held and a decision made. And also establish a list of grounds for which commission meetings can be held remotely or decisions can be made in absentia, or external meetings can be organized.
The government should also establish an exhaustive list of gross violations, for the commission of which the MSEC members will be deprived of membership in commissions of all levels and the right to perform functions and participate in decision-making in the field of disability determination for a certain period of time. And also to establish a clear division of MSEC into commissions of the first, second and other levels.
Also, people with disabilities and their representatives, lawyers will have the right to independently appeal the decision of MSEC.
It is important to note that at the beginning of November, the Cabinet of Ministers submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a draft law on the liquidation of MSEC. The draft law explained that the current system of MSEC appeared even before Ukraine gained independence and does not meet either modern challenges or current approaches to establishing disability that exist in the world.
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, they found 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 providing disability groups 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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