Passing medical examinations is an integral part of everyone’s life, because with their help everyone can determine their health, prevent and even prevent the development of some dangerous diseases.
At the same time, for some citizens, medical examinations are mandatory, for example, due to their professional activities. Medical examination is also one of the essential stages of mobilization. In particular, the Law of Ukraine “On Military Duty and Military Service” undergoes a medical examination during mobilization is mandatory for citizens of Ukraine who are assigned to conscription stations, sent to prepare for military service, called up or accepted for military service, accepted for service in the military reserve, and conscripts assigned to fill positions in the relevant military accounting specialties and other specialties in the Security Service of Ukraine. The procedure for its conduct is regulated by the Regulations on Military Medical Examination in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, approved by the Order of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine of August 14, 2008 № 402.
During the mobilization, citizens undergo a medical examination in the military medical commissions (hereinafter – MMC) of military commissariats, garrison (hospital) MMC. The main purpose of the medical examination is to study and assess the health and physical development of citizens at the time of the examination in order to determine the degree of fitness, inter alia, for military service. Based on the results of the medical examination, the MMC makes a decision on fitness (unfitness, temporary unfitness) for military service. It is in the presence of a positive conclusion of the medical commission that a person can be summoned to a collection point to be sent to a military unit in connection with a call-up for military service or for training. However, in practice, there may be cases when, for one reason or another, a person does not agree with the conclusions of the medical examination, set out in the decision of the relevant MMC.
The only way out of this situation is to appeal such a decision. At the same time, the current legislation provides for the possibility of this appeal in two ways: 1) pre-trial or 2) court. We will tell in more detail about their features further. Pre-trial procedure for appealing MMC resolutions According to the first method of appealing MMC decisions, it is possible to appeal them to higher-level MMC, namely:
- Resolutions of the MMC of the district (city) territorial center of staffing and social support can be appealed to the MMC of the region or the city of Kyiv;
- revision of resolutions subordinated to MMC (MMC of oblasts), have the right to carry out MMC of regions;
- Decisions of any MMC have the right to review the Central MMC.
Please note that appeals against MMC resolutions on the fitness for military service of ex-servicemen for the period of their actual release from the Armed Forces of Ukraine are possible only to the Central MMC. In order to appeal the decision of the MMC to the higher-level MMC or directly to the Central MMC, it is necessary to submit an application stating the reasons for reviewing the decision. In addition, the application should be accompanied by documents issued by the MMC, the decision of which is being appealed. If available, you can also provide the results of previous medical research.
Following the review of the application, a decision may be made to conduct a repeat or follow-up medical examination in order to finally resolve the issue of fitness for military service. Judicial procedure for appealing a decision of the MMC The second way to appeal the decision of the MMC is to apply to a court of administrative jurisdiction. To do this, you must file a lawsuit in the district administrative court of the plaintiff’s choice: the place of residence (stay) of the plaintiff or the place of residence of the defendant. This method can be chosen immediately, without prior use of the pre-trial procedure, or go to court after receiving a negative opinion from the “last resort” of the pre-trial appeal. At the same time, not only the moment of receiving the final conclusion from such an appeal will depend on the chosen algorithm of actions , but also the terms of filing a claim with the administrative court, in particular:
- in case of preliminary application of the pre-trial procedure – the term for court appeal will be 3 months, which begins on the day of delivery of the relevant decision based on the results of consideration of the application for appeal against the decision;
- in case of appealing the decision of the MMC directly to the court – the deadline for appeal is 6 months from the date when the person learned about the offense, ie from the date of the relevant decision of the MMC.
Please note that appealing against the MMC decision does not release you from the obligation to appear at the call of the territorial center of recruitment and social support for deployment to the military unit or training, which could even lead to criminal prosecution. In view of this, together with the statement of claim, it is necessary to submit an application for securing the claim, in which to ask the court to oblige to suspend the decision of the MMC until the court decision.
Therefore, appealing the decision of the MMC is quite possible and real. Therefore, if you have reasonable doubts about the legitimacy of the decision of the MMC, you can challenge it by choosing one of the above methods or try to combine both of them.