Ukraine’s parliament approves bill to dissolve medical expert commissions in 2025

Source: Yaroslav Zheleznyak

In a bid to address corruption in medical expert commissions, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has gone for the easiest solution – it  has passed a bill to dissolve them, with 259 deputies voting in favor. Starting January 1, the current MSEC system will be replaced with expert commissions established in what is called cluster and supra-cluster hospitals. This move follows a decree signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to dismantle MSEC by December 31, 2024.

It started on On October 4 when the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) uncovered corruption involving the head of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Center of Medical-Social Expertise, Tetiana Krupa, and her son, a senior official in the regional Pension Fund. Searches at their residences  revealed approximately $5.2 million in cash, 300,000 euros, over 5 million hryvnias, and luxury jewelry, the origins of which they failed to explain.

The Anti-Corruption Court upheld her detention on December 9. This scandal drew a strong public reaction, prompting further inspections of MSEC employees and uncovering cases of fake disability certifications. Among those caugh red-handed were the head of Mykolaiv’s MSEC, with over $450,000 in cash found during searches, and a Central MSEC official caught taking bribes in November.

Investigators found that 61 prosecutors in Khmelnytskyi, including the regional prosecutor Oleksandr Oliinyk, had fraudulently obtained disability statuses to dodge the military service.  Record also revealed that at least 50 identified “disabled” prosecutors collectively claimed 54.1 million hryvnias in pensions funded by taxpayers.