Parliament backs bill to dissolve medical commissions in 1st reading after corruption scandals

The Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, supported a draft law on the elimination of the system of medical examination commissions (MSEC) for determining the severity of disabilities in the first reading on Nov. 20.

President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a decree in October to liquidate the commissions in the wake of accusations of Ukrainian officials using corrupt schemes to acquire falsified disability certifications.

A total of 260 members of parliament voted in favor of the bill, said Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a member of the Holos party.

Obtaining disability status through medical examination commissions allows one to avoid military service and receive a higher pension, among other social benefits.

The draft law's authors proposed replacing the system of medical examination commissions with "an assessment of a person's daily functioning."

"The system of medical and social expertise that currently exists in Ukraine was formed before Ukraine gained independence. It does not meet the current challenges that our country faces during the armed aggression by the Russian Federation, nor the current approaches to establishing disability adopted in the world," the explanatory note to the draft law read.

The draft law's authors expect that the new system will help create a transparent procedure for assessing the needs of the applicants. The replacement of commissions is expected to reduce the administrative burden and help reduce appeals against their decisions.

Following the National Security and Defense Council meeting on Oct. 22, Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) head Vasyl Maliuk said that the SBU had exposed corruption schemes at medical examination commissions in 2024, resulting in the cancellation of 4,106 fake disability status certificates.

Maliuk added that 64 officials at medical examination commissions have been charged with committing crimes, while another nine suspects have been convicted.

According to Zelensky's October decree, all commissions in Ukraine are to be eliminated by Dec. 31, 2024. Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin submitted his resignation on Oct. 22 following the reports of prosecutors illegally obtaining disability status.

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