Presidential decree #536/2023 of September 12, 2023 

Decision-maker: the President of Ukraine 

Who is affected: military medical commissions, medical social expertise commissions (MSEC), the National Security and Defense Council, the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Health, the National Health Service of Ukraine, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, the Ombudsman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights, the Ministry of the Interior, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigations, the Prosecutor General’s Office, oblast state administrations, and Kyiv City State Administration. 

Summary of the decree: 

  • the following tasks were assigned to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine: 
  • within a week (by September 19), to form working joint groups with oblast administrations to verify the validity of decisions by medical social expertise commissions and military medical commissions regarding the establishment of disability, recognition of unfitness for military service, made while martial law was declared 
  • within a week (by September 19), to develop a plan to ensure quality, efficiency, an appropriate level of service, and accessibility of military medical commissions 
  • the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the Ministry of Defense, the National Health Service of Ukraine, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and oblast administrations will have within a week (by September 19) to establish deadlines for conducting medical examinations and to optimize the processes of conducting medical examinations 
  • the heads of oblast administrations and the head of the Kyiv City State Administration within a week (by September 19) will have to organize a system for monitoring the workload on the military medical commissions and medical social expertise commissions. If necessary, new commissions should be created 
  • within 2 weeks (by September 26), issues with crossing the border by Ukrainian citizens should be addressed. In particular for citizens recognized as unfit or partially fit for military service 
  • within 3 months (by December 12), these working groups will have to check the validity of decisions issued by military medical commissions and medical social expertise commissions. If violations are found, law enforcement agencies should be informed 
  • the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Defense should be empowered to be able to form policies on military medical commissions and medical social expertise commissions 
  • the National Agency for Corruption Prevention is ordered to analyze corruption risks in the work of military medical commissions and issue recommendations to lower these risks 
  • the State Bureau of Investigation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service in cooperation with the Office of the Prosecutor General are ordered to immediately take action to expose corruption offenses and criminal offenses regarding the work of military medical commissions. 
  • in the field of official activities in the system of military-medical expertise. 

What is right: 

  • issues with military medical commissions and medical social expertise commissions are serious. Law enforcement agencies and the Cabinet are trying to resolve them. 

What is wrong: 

  • the decree violated the Constitution. The President cannot give orders to either the Cabinet or other central executive bodies, or law enforcement agencies. The powers granted to the President are defined by the Constitution, so he can only issue decrees that are within his or her mandate 
  • the decree violates the balance of the power 
  • currently, there is no proper procedure for inspecting the decisions of military medical commissions or medical social expertise commissions, except for challenging them in court, so it is unclear how exactly the decisions of these commissions will be inspected.