NSDC decision: ICEC to cease operations
22 October 2024 19:50
In Ukraine, all medical and social commissions will cease to operate by 31 December 2024. This became possible because the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy enacted the relevant decision of the National Security and Defence Council, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports citing the website of the President’s Office.
This refers to Presidential Decree No. 732/2024.
“(There are numerous facts of violations – ed.) by the MSEC and fake disabilities for officials. These are not only prosecutors, by the way. There are hundreds of such cases of obviously unjustified disabilities among customs, tax, Pension Fund and local administration officials. All this needs to be dealt with thoroughly and promptly. The MSEC system should be eliminated,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said when summing up the NSDC meeting.
According to him, for real and systemic changes, it is necessary to fully digitalise all stages of work on establishing disability. There must be personal responsibility and personnel decisions in this situation in central government – in the vertical control of the MSEC.
“The problem is not only that officials make themselves disabled through connections. It is also that people who have been genuinely disabled, in particular in hostilities, often cannot get the appropriate status and fair payments. The government has little time to fix this,” the President of Ukraine said.
What does the NSDC decision on the MSEC say?
The document provides for the following
- the authorised bodies to review decisions on disability for officials within three months, as well as to review unjustified decisions on disability;
- creation of a plan for digitalisation of the MSEC processes within two weeks;
- conducting audits of disability pensions for civil servants within a week;
- revise the mechanism for calculating pensions for officials to make the system more transparent;
- starting the liquidation of all MSECs in Ukraine from 31 December this year.
How people will apply for disability after the liquidation of the MSEC
Based on the draft law from the Ministry of Health, there will be a new process: an assessment of a person’s daily functioning, where doctors will refer for an examination on their own, without the involvement of a commission. This examination will be carried out in medical institutions where all the necessary specialists are available.
What preceded it
It all started with the head of the Khmelnytsky MSEK, Tetiana Krupa, who had more than $10 million seized from her.
After that, Yuriy Butusov, editor-in-chief of Censor.NET, published information that 51 prosecutors in the Khmelnytsky region had received disability and pensions with the assistance of Tetiana Krupa.
Since then, officials and doctors who helped conscripts avoid mobilisation by issuing fake certificates have been caught all over Ukraine.
On Tuesday, 22 October, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy chaired a meeting of the National Security and Defence Council, at which it was revealed that fake disabilities had been found not only among 50 prosecutors in Khmelnytskyy region, but also among hundreds of officials from customs, tax, the Pension Fund and local administrations.
