Draft bill #11225 of April 30, 2024 

Cosponsors: a group of 3 MPs from the Servant of the People faction with Halyna Tretiakova as the first signatory 

Status: adopted in full 

Who is affected: persons with disabilities, medical social expertise commissions (MSECs), and the Cabinet of Ministers 

Summary: 

  • medical social expertise will be carried out by commissions of the first, second, and other levels according to the distribution rules. These rules will be set by the Cabinet of Ministers 
  • MSECs will provide justifications of their decisions to the persons they examine 
  • the Cabinet will set the timeframe within which a MSEC is obliged to issue a decision based on the results of the examination 
  • the Cabinet will prepare a list of cases when MSEC meetings may be held remotely, on-site, or issue decisions in absentia 
  • MSECs will be required conduct examinations (or re-examinations) of people with health issues and persons with disabilities in a timely manner. If a person applying to establish disability cannot attend the commission due to their health condition (it must be confirmed by a medical commission), the examination will be carried out at their place of residence: at home, in specialized institutions for the elderly, in social institutions for the homeless, or in medical facilities where that person is receiving treatment 
  • a person will have the right to invite to a MSEC meeting their lawyer, legal representative, or representative by proxy. A doctor or rehabilitation specialist may also accompany them. Involvement of these specialists will not be covered by the state, a person will have to invite them and pay for their services on their own 
  • a person, their lawyer, legal representative, or representative by proxy will have the right to independently record the MSEC meeting on video or audio and take photographs of the respective documents. In case of disagreement with a decision of the first-level MSEC, the person will have the right to file a written complaint to a second-level medical social expertise commission within one month after receiving the conclusion 
  • a first-level MSEC that conducted the examination will have to send all available documents for review to a second-level MSEC within three days after receiving the complaint. The latter will have to re-examine the person and issue a decision regarding their disability within a month after the submission of the documents 
  • it will also be possible to appeal against the decision of the second-level MSEC within a month to the specialized body designated by the Ministry of Health 
  • it will be possible to revoke a MSEC decision in the process of an appeal to a higher-level MSEC 
  • it will be possible to appeal against a MSEC decision in court under established legal procedures 
  • the procedure for appealing against MSEC decisions will be determined by the Regulations on Social Medical Expertise. They will be adopted by the Cabinet and define under what conditions and within what timeframe the head and members of the MSEC may be removed from their positions in a commission of any level or deprived of the right to conduct expertise 
  • if a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team identifies signs of permanent limitations of life activities and information about them is indicated in the individual rehabilitation plan, the person will be referred for examination to confirm that they have permanent limitations of life activities and establish the status of “person with a disability” or “child with a disability” 
  • the Cabinet of Ministers will have to adopt the required bylaws within a month after the law comes into effect. 

What is right: 

  • the option of conducting MSEC remotely will be introduced in the law 
  • a clear procedure for appealing against MSEC decisions will be established 
  • the option of inviting a lawyer to commission meetings is provisioned. 

What is wrong: the proposed changes address only some specific issues and will not significantly improve the examination process as such. 

Alternative solution: 

  • to propose specific state policies that can ensure transparency, efficiency, and fairness in the establishment of disability status 
  • to digitalize the submission process as the primary tool for processing and recording medical data concerning disabilities 
  • to utilize modern international standards for assessing the ability to work and disabilities (e.g., the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health) 
  • to distribute functions among various state bodies or delegate part of the powers to independent experts, which will reduce the risk of power abuse. The reform of the MSECs should be gradual and balanced, include reevaluation and retraining of employees. Otherwise, there is always a risk that the old institution will be recreated under a new name. 

Why this is important: the procedures for establishing disability are opaque and too complex for a layman to understand. As a result, it is hard to appeal against unlawful decisions and people with disabilities who genuinely need help and support face red tape in abundance. 

Additional information: 

  • explainer by Iryna Korzhenkova: Why it is not so simple to eliminate the medical social expertise commissions and was the NSDC’s decision necessary to do that? A lawyer’s explanation