Medical evacuation: how can military personnel get treatment abroad?

For more than a year of full-scale war in Ukraine, the evacuation of affected citizens to foreign clinics has been ongoing, where they receive the necessary treatment and rehabilitation. 

As of today, thanks to strong international support and cooperation between the Ministry of Health and its partners, about 4,000 Ukrainians have been evacuated to EU clinics. It should be noted that the treatment program is open to both civilians and military personnel. 

Today, we are talking about the algorithm of medical evacuation for treatment for the defenders of Ukraine. 

Providing servicemen and women who defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country with the necessary medical and/or rehabilitation care, access to which is limited due to the war, is one of the top priorities for the state. That is why the government has adopted a resolution that greatly simplifies the mechanism of medical evacuation of the military. 

So now, for medical evacuation, a defender does not need to obtain a conclusion from a military medical institution. Now, the medical institution where the defender of Ukraine is being treated (rehabilitated) initiates and determines the need for referral for treatment abroad. The medical institution also prepares a package of documents, including

consent of the serviceman or his/her legal representative for treatment abroad; 

consent to the processing and transfer of personal data to medical institutions in foreign countries;

an extract from the medical record of an outpatient (inpatient) patient in the form approved by the Ministry of Health;

a conclusion on the need to send the military for treatment abroad.

Please note that templates of the above documents can be found at the following link: https://moz.gov.ua/dokumenti_.

Next, the medical institution sends the conclusion on the need for evacuation together with the package of documents to the state body from the security and defense sector in which the serviceman/servicewoman is serving. The state body, in turn, sends a letter of referral with copies of the documents to the Ministry of Health in electronic form.

The MoH then submits a request to the EU countries to provide the defender of Ukraine with the necessary medical and rehabilitation assistance free of charge and informs the Medical Forces Command or the relevant state body within the security and defense sector, the administration of the State Border Guard Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by letter of the list of defenders of Ukraine who may be accepted for treatment abroad, agreed with the foreign party.

The Ministry of Health of Ukraine, with the assistance of the official structures of the European Commission, transports the defender to a foreign clinic. 

For more information on the algorithm of medical evacuation for civilian Ukrainians, please follow the link.