Medics in the Army: Council Considers Mandatory Training for Reserve Officers
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has registered draft law No. 13276, which aims to restore mandatory military training for students of medical and pharmaceutical specialties. The initiative was supported by a group of people’s deputies led by Mykhailo Radutsky, chairman of the parliamentary Committee on the Health of the Nation.
According to the document, Article 11 of the Law of Ukraine, “On Military Duty and Military Service,” is proposed to be amended. If it is adopted, students studying at medical and pharmaceutical faculties who pass professional and psychological selection will be able to take a course in training reserve medical service officers. The program will last 41 ECTS credits.
Scientists justify the need for changes to the law to the acute shortage of specialists in the military-medical field. Currently, reserve officer training is carried out for only about 5% of students, mainly voluntarily and at their own expense, under a contract with the Ministry of Defense. Only those who agree to serve after receiving the rank are trained at the state budget.
The bill also provides for expanding the network of departments engaged in military training in higher education institutions subordinate to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Science. Currently, such departments operate in 10 out of 15 medical universities subordinate to the Ministry of Health and only in 4 out of 9 universities subordinate to the Ministry of Education and Science.
According to the explanatory note, implementing the proposed changes will increase the number of students undergoing military training to 4.3 thousand per year from 2026, with a further increase in this indicator.
In addition, the document obliges all higher education institutions that train medical professionals and pharmacists to organize military training on their own basis. The Ministry of Health is given the right to coordinate the list of military-registered specialties and their training volume.
