Parliament attempts to improve medical and social expertise in Ukraine
29 October 2024 18:25
The Verkhovna Rada has adopted a draft law on amendments to some laws of Ukraine to improve the procedures for conducting medical and social expertise. It was passed by 284 MPs, Komersant ukrainskyi
reports.
The reason for the preparation of the relevant draft law back in May of this year was the existing problems in the work of medical and social expert commissions, which were pointed out by both civilian and military patients. And human rights organizations, as noted in the explanatory note to the draft law, generally pointed out that the existence of such commissions was inappropriate.
This is logical, particularly given the events of recent days and, above all, the head of state’s intention to eliminate medical and social expert commissions altogether. But the need for medical and social expertise exists, and the adopted law should improve it.
MP Iryna Gerashchenko analyzed in her Telegram how the medical and social examination procedure is planned to be modernized. According to her, this should be done through:
- the possibility of online participation of persons in MSEC meetings, which will reduce time and money for patients;
- changes in the procedure for establishing disability: it is proposed to consider documents for examination instead of personal presence;
- entering information about the results of the MSEC into the electronic healthcare system (EHS) to simplify doctors’ access to data and speed up decision-making and transparency.
According to Iryna Gerashchenko, the following novelties were added to the document for the second reading
- granting lawyers or other authorized representatives of persons with disabilities the right to attend the MSEC meeting;
- providing patients with the opportunity to invite their doctors to the MSEC meeting;
- granting persons with disabilities, their lawyers or other authorized representatives the right to independently make video and audio recordings of the MSEC meetings, as well as to take photographs of documents generated by the MSEC as part of their case;
- obligation of the Cabinet of Ministers to set maximum time limits within which the MSEC meeting should be held and a decision made;
- granting persons with disabilities, their lawyers or other authorized representatives the right to independently establish a procedure for appealing against the decisions of the MSEC;
- obligation of the Cabinet of Ministers to establish a list of grounds on which the MSEC meetings are held remotely or offsite meetings are organized, or decisions are made in absentia;
- obligation of the Cabinet of Ministers to establish an exhaustive list of gross violations for which MSEC members are 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;
- organizing and establishing a clear division of MSECs into commissions of the first, second and other levels.
By the way, following the adoption of this law, Iryna Gerashchenko also had a very logical question about the future of the MSECs, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced their closure on January 1, 2025.
