Ukraine Reforms Disability Assessment System

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, approved a bill to eliminate the Medical and Social Expert Commission (MSEC) on Thursday, Dec.19.

The Ministry of Health commented on the approval, with 259 parliamentarians voting in favor, stating that it will begin reforming the MSEC and introducing assessments of daily functioning.

“Starting from Jan. 1, 2025, expert teams of practicing doctors will determine disability instead of the outdated, corrupt MSEC,” the statement says.

All stages of the assessment will be recorded in an electronic system, which is intended to prevent corruption. The Ministry of Health has identified 286 hospitals where teams will assess individuals’ daily functioning. These institutions meet modern standards and cover all regions of Ukraine.

Documents issued by the MSEC before Jan. 1, 2025, will remain valid and allow individuals to receive social guarantees, benefits, pensions, and other payments during their validity period.

MSECs that determine the level of disability and assign a category depending on the level of incapacity for an individual were set up in 1992. They were ostensibly supposed to reform the old Soviet medical-labor commissions system, but effectively it was just a renaming exercise. The work of the MSECs remained as opaque and unregulated as the old Soviet-era system.

According to Kyiv Post’s sources, including lawyers and doctors, this led to widespread abuse. Many Ukrainians registered fake disabilities either to collect additional pensions or to avoid mobilization. Some turned the obtaining of certificates into a business, with social media pages advertising disability registration services.

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On the face of it, the number of disabled people in Ukraine matches the European average. About 3 million people are registered disabled – roughly 10% of the population – a level similar to that in Germany, Poland, and France, yet lower than the United States.

Since the war began, the number of people declaring disabilities in Ukraine increased by 10%, from 2.7 million at the beginning of 2022 to 3 million by 2024 – this despite around 6 million Ukrainians or 25% of the population having left the country.