Tax officials, prosecutors, and customs agents: The Ministry of Health is investigating over 1,600 officials with disabilities.

The examination will assess the cases of 1,695 officials from over 30 government agencies who were previously granted disability status by the MSEC. The Ministry of Health has pledged to forward the cases of individuals whose diagnoses are found to be false to the appropriate authorities.

https://focus.ua/ukraine/680440-reforma-msek-minzdrav-peresmatrivaet-dela-bolee-1-600-dolzhnostnyh-lic-s-invalidnostyu2024-11-26 07:50:54

On October 20, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky convened the National Security and Defense Council due to the scandal involving the MSEC and the issuance of fraudulent disability certificates for prosecutors. Following this, the Ministry of Health, along with law enforcement and other agencies, began to verify the legitimacy of disability determinations for officials in government bodies and compiled a list of 1,695 individuals whose cases were sent for examination, reports the press service of the Ministry of Health.

The Ministry of Health established an interagency working group in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Policy, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Agency for Civil Service, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigations, the National Police of Ukraine, as well as regional and the Kyiv City Military Administration.

By the end of November 2024, the group had compiled a list of 1,695 officials from over 30 government bodies and sent their cases for examination regarding the legitimacy of the disabilities determined by the MSEC. This list is not final and is expected to grow as law enforcement provides new data, according to the Ministry of Health.

Among the selected cases, the largest proportion of employees is from the Ukrainian tax service, making up 32%. Prosecutors account for 26%, customs service employees for 17%, and other government officials for 25%.

In the next two months, their cases will be reviewed with the involvement of specialists from the Ukrainian State Research Institute of Medical and Social Problems of Disability in Dnipro and the Research Institute of Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities in Vinnytsia. If it turns out that the decisions regarding disability were unfounded, the interagency group may initiate a review and forward the information to the authorized bodies, according to the Ministry of Health's press service.

On November 25, Minister of Social Policy Oksana Zholdak responded to a question regarding the reform of the MSEC and explained what will happen with disabilities, payments, and who will be checked. According to the official, after the reform, instead of the MSEC, medical commissions will operate in cluster hospitals, which will consider anonymous cases of citizens and make decisions regarding disability determinations and the assignment of payments.

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko also noted on November 25 that 524 prosecutors in Ukrainian prosecutorial bodies have disabilities. According to the MP, this represents about 10% of the total number.