VLK without shopping mall? What does the new law on the register of military mean

On Tuesday, June 17, the Verkhovna Rada I approved Law number 12066 “On Amendments to the Unified State Register of Servicemen”. According to its authors (among them mainly members of the “servant of the people”), this document opens the way to the large-scale reform of the military-medical commissions (VLK). 265 people’s deputies voted for the document.

The initiative, supported by the Ministry of Defense, is positioned in response to many years of systemic corruption abuses in the VLK system, as well as as a desire to digitalize military accounting. In particular, it is planned to make it impossible to counterfeit the conclusions of medical commissions, reduce the human factor and destroy the monopoly of medical and military structures for access to decision-making on suitability.

On paper, as always, everything sounds quite good. However, this law raises issues from human rights activists, the medical community and society.

In particular, many have seen in the new document the potential threat of confidentiality of medical data (medical secrecy), which are protected by both the Constitution of Ukraine and the profile legislation on health care. Against the background of the continued war and the need to replenish the personnel of the Armed Forces, fears of possible abuse of new powers by the CCC and serious violations of the basic rights of citizens are increasing.

So what will change the new law and will you really be able to pass the VLK without a visit to the shopping center? UA.news political observer Nikita Trachuk He understood the question.

Official Position: Digitalization Against Corruption

According to the Deputy Minister of Defense Kateryna Chernororenko, the adopted law provides for a systematic restructuring of the architecture of the VLK. Its main goal is to separate the functions of medical diagnostics and an administrative solution, which should eliminate the field for corruption contacts. In the current system, doctors and the military worked in a close connection, which created numerous opportunities for falsification, illegal decisions or bribery.

“I am convinced that this model is vulnerable to unfair decisions,” – the Deputy Minister is confident.

The new mechanism provides that the inspection is carried out in a civilian health care institution, which has a contract with the NSAU.

The scheme is as follows: the doctor enters the medical data to the electronic health care system (ESOO), where they are certified by digital signature. In the future, the military commission receives this data in a depersonalized form – that is, without the name and contacts of the person – and makes a decision on suitability or unsuitable service. Thus, the theory minimizes the contact between the person and the commission, as well as almost completely offset the possibility of negotiating with a specific doctor.

“The doctor is not just writing that a person, for example, has a congenital heart defect – he forms a conclusion based on examinations that are recorded in the system. Fake it is almost impossible ”, Chernororenko assured.

A significant breakthrough is considered to be the detachment of VLK from the territorial principle. This allows you to undergo physical examination not only at the place of registration and registration, but in any medical institution connected to ESOO and has a contract with the NSAU.

In the future, the possibility of choosing a convenient CCC for interaction is considered that digital services allow any military enlistment operator to receive the necessary data about the person, regardless of his place of residence. According to the MO, it will increase the efficiency of mobilization, avoid bureaucratic disorder and restore confidence in the system.

Medical Secret under the pressure of mobilization

Despite the positive expectations of the new digital model, the criticism of the bill indicates serious violations of constitutional and legal norms. In particular, Article 32 The Constitution of Ukraine guarantees that “no one can interfere with personal and family life” and prohibits “the collection, storage, use and dissemination of confidential information about a person without his consent.”

However, there is an amendment – “except in cases provided for by the Constitution, defined by law and in the interests of national security.” Most likely, the authors of the law will be appealed to this in the event of further criticism: they say, since mobilization is a matter of national security, then there can be no issues of legality.

In turn, Article 39-1 The basics of the legislation of Ukraine on health care enshrines the right of the patient to medical secrecy. This includes a diagnosis, the reason for seeking help and other information obtained during treatment. But this regulatory act is not mentioned by the authors of the new document in general.

The implementation of the new de facto law provides for the automatic obtaining of the results of the VLK through the application “Reserve+” or by Push and SMS. For example, a person may receive notification that he is already recognized as suitable or unusable – without prior consent to the transfer of his medical data in this way.

In this context, the question arises: will such a message actually be equal to the summons? And if the person does not appear after her, will he be wanted? There is no answer yet.

The situation is also complicated by the fact that most medical examinations in Ukraine occur without formal consent to the processing of personal data for military purposes. Thus, the introduction of such a mechanism can not only disrupt medical secrecy, but also jeopardize patients with privacy.

Citizens can later begin to avoid official medical institutions, preferring private clinics or self -medication – so that they are just “glowing” in the state health care system. In addition, the excessive automation and lack of mechanisms of control by the person regarding their data (for example, the ability to protest the decision of the VLK before its official entry into the Register) creates additional risks of abuse.

And all this happens against the background of a general decrease in confidence in institutions and legal procedures during the mobilization campaign.

Summarizing, the new law on the register of servicemen really has the potential for positive changes. It is transparency, digitalization, combating corruption, reducing the load on the VLK system, simplifying the process, etc.

However, it is important not to idealize the situation. The document contains a number of provisions that potentially contradict the basic constitutional norms and human rights, especially in the protection of personal and personal and medical data.

In war, the state is looking for ways to provide mobilization and resources for defense, which is absolutely logical. But this path should not go through ignoring the right to privacy and medical secret.

The law in the current version requires revision. It is necessary to clearly state who and under what conditions it has access to medical data, how the consent of the person is guaranteed, whether he can challenge the decision, how to avoid “digital coercion” through annexes and notices. Otherwise, instead of effective modernization, the country will grow distrust, sabotage of the health care system, shadowing diagnostics and another departure of citizens from interaction with the state.