The constituent meeting of the Committee on Medical and Pharmaceutical Law and Bioethics of the Ukrainian National Bar Association was held in Kyiv on October 13. The meeting resolved the main issues related to the Committee’s further activities.

The participating Committee members were welcomed by Iryna Seniuta, Head of the Committee on Medical and Pharmaceutical Law and Bioethics; Vadym Krasnyk, Head of the BCU (UNBA) Secretariat; Serhii Vylkov, Head of the Committee on Legal Aid; and Mykola Sioma, Director of the Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation. The participants spoke about the necessity to expand the network of advocates practicing medical law, and outlined the role of bar in ensuring the protection of human rights in the field of health care.

While opening the meeting Iryna Seniuta noted that establishment of the Committee is a significant event for the Ukrainian medical law as such. The idea to set up ​​such a sectoral committee arose after a series of specialized events for advocates, and was strongly supported by the Bar Council of Ukraine by adopting a decision on the establishment of this Committee, the main task of which is to promote the development of medical and pharmaceutical law, bioethics and public health law, as well as to ensure protection of human rights. The Committee Head stressed that the Committee would work spectrally: from the normative and analytical work to developing effective mechanisms for the provision of legal aid in medical cases, as well as to cooperation with students.

“The UNBA welcomes such an initiative and also supports the establishment of other specialized committees. We invite all advocates and specialists to participate in the joint activities!”, – said Vadym Krasnyk.

At the meeting the Committee members discussed issues on the agenda and defined the short-term and long-term activity plans, namely:

• to conduct a series of regional events on ensuring human rights in the field of health care;
• to organize the second specialized training in medical law for advocates;
• to prepare methodical recommendations for advocates on how to conduct medical cases;
• to establish cooperation with medical and legal clinics or legal clinics specializing in medical law in order to increase the level of practical component in the advocates’ training.

The Head of the Committee on Legal Aid Serhii Vylkov noted: “It is important not only because the time has come for this initiative to be implemented, but also because today about 70% of citizens are facing various medical law problems. In fact, the state, which is responsible for raising awareness of citizens in the field of medical and pharmaceutical law, does not create such conditions. Therefore, the UNBA, as the bar institute, assumes this responsibility in order to provide Ukrainian citizens with all types of timely and high quality legal aid in the field of medical law”.

In addition, the personal composition of the Committee’s sections was determined and their heads were elected during the meeting. The Medical Law Section is headed by Serhii Antonov, the Public Health Law Section – by Zinaida Chupryna, the Pharmaceutical Law Section – by Oksana Kashyntseva, and the Section of Bioethics Legal Basis – by Yana Trynova.