On November 20, the Parliament of Ukraine supported the liquidation of the outdated system of medical and social expertise (MSEС) in the first reading.
MP from the "Voice" party Yaroslav Zheleznyak reported this.
260 parliamentarians voted for the document No. 12178. It provides for the creation of a new digitalized system. The functions of MSEC will be entrusted to expert commissions formed in cluster and super-cluster hospitals. Instead of the term "medical and social examination" it is proposed to introduce the term "assessment of the daily functioning of a person".
Innovation was initiated by the Cabinet of Ministers. The explanatory note states that the MSEC system appeared before Ukraine gained independence. Therefore, it does not meet the modern challenges and approaches regarding the establishment of disability.
The Ministry of Health explained what else is changed by draft law No. 12178:
- there will be no need for medical and advisory commissions: attending physicians will be able to refer for evaluation, and military servicemen will be referred by military medical commission doctors on the basis of clear criteria with the help of an electronic system;
- the person will be able to involve his authorized representative in the assessment process, for example, a doctor who will be able to explain the patientʼs case;
- 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
At the end of October 2024, the Ministry of Health declared that they would liquidate the central MSEC by the end of the year. This decision was preceded by a scandal with the head of 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 wrote 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.
Subsequently, the Verkhovna Rada supported the draft law on the improvement of the medical and social expert commission. What it provides — read here. It became known that the current heads of the MSEC will not be admitted to positions in the updated system of medical commissions. But other doctors who currently work at MSEK 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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