102 expert teams to be created in southern Ukraine to replace MSEC

The Ministry of Health has unveiled plans to create Expert Teams for Assessment of Daily Functioning of a Person to replace the Medical and Social Expert Commissions that used to determine the degree of disability before the recent corruption scandal.

According to the ministry's report, 102 such teams are planned to be formed in Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions - 46 in Odesa region, 37 in Mykolaiv region, and 19 in Kherson region.

The Ministry has now identified a list of institutions with expert teams to replace the MSECs. Expert teams for assessing the daily functioning of a person will work in 286 hospitals across Ukraine.

In Odesa region, these are:

• Artsyzka central reference hospital.
• Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi City Multidisciplinary Hospital.
• Izmail City Central Hospital.
• City Clinical Hospitals No. 1 and No. 10 in Odesa.
• Odesa Regional Clinical Hospital.
• Odesa Regional Medical Center for Mental Health.
• Odesa Regional Center for Socially Significant Diseases.
• Odesa Regional Antitumor Center.
• Podil City Hospital.
• Rozdilnyanska multidisciplinary hospital.

In Mykolaiv Oblast, expert teams will work in:

• Bashtanka Multidisciplinary Hospital.
• Mykolaiv Regional Clinical Hospital.
• Mykolaiv Regional Oncology Center.
• Mykolaiv Regional Center for Mental Health.
• Mykolaiv Regional Phthisiopulmonary Medical Center.
• Mykolaiv City Clinical Hospitals #3 and #5.
• City Clinical Emergency Hospital in Mykolaiv.
• Pervomaisk Central City Multidisciplinary Hospital.
• Voznesenskaya multidisciplinary hospital.

In Kherson region these are:

• Regional Phthisiopulmonary Medical Center;
• Kherson City Clinical Hospital named after Karabelesh;
• Kherson City Clinical Hospital named after Luchansky;
• Kherson Regional Clinical Hospital;
• Kherson Regional Psychiatric Care Institution;
• Kherson Regional Oncology Center.

Medical and Social Expert Commissions(MSECs) will operate as structures until December 31, 2024. Until then, the process of granting disability and the stages of its passage, in particular: the patient's route, the list of documents, the appeal procedure, etc. remain in force.

On January 1, 2025, the reform will start: the MSEC will be replaced by an assessment of daily functioning. It is expected that the path to disability status will be significantly simplified for a person, as most processes will be shortened and digitalized. All stages of the assessment will be recorded in an electronic system, which should make corruption impossible.

Кирило Бойко