Medical expert commissions to be phased out – Zelensky’s decree

Source: president.gov.ua

On Tuesday, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a decree that will pull the plug on medical social expert commisions after they were found granting fake disability status to prosecutors across the country.   As part of this plan, the medical-social expert commissions can be dissolved starting December 31, 2024.

The decree orders a comprehensive inspection of MSEC war-time decisions on disability status granted to officials and cmmands that any unjustified rulings be reassessed.

The National Security Council has recommended that reports on how this issue is addressed must come from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), the National Police, and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau report

The government is required to draft several legislative proposals for Parliament, including:

• A bill developed with the Ministry of Health to reform the medical-social assessment system, introducing an evaluation framework for individuals with limited daily functioning, and officially dissolving the MSECs by December 31, 2024.
• A bill with the Ministry of Social Policy to revise the pension system for public officials to ensure fairness in pensions and benefits calculations.
• A bill with the Prosecutor General’s Office to regulate salary and pension and benefits structures for prosecutors, with a focus on social protections for those with disabilities.

The government will need to join forces with the Pension Fund, SBI, National Police, and SBU, to conduct an audit of pension payments granted on the basis of disability to public officials.