Health Ministry clarifies rules for military registration of women with medical education.

The Health Ministry clarified its announcement on the rules pertaining to women with medical education during martial law. Earlier in September, President Volodymyr Zelensky's parliamentary representative, Fedir Venislavskyi, said women with a medical or pharmaceutical education must register at military enlistment offices from the beginning of October. This implied that these women, like Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60, would not be permitted to leave the country during martial law without special permission.

The Health Ministry clarified in a statement issued on Sept.

26 that there have been no changes in the rules for women traveling abroad, including for those with a medical education. The ministry said it recognized that many were "worried by the statements," but that women may continue to "freely cross the state border,"  regardless of whether or not they are registered with the military. According to the Health Ministry, women aged 18 to 60 with a medical or pharmaceutical education have been required to be on the military register since 1992.

As such, women with such backgrounds have until the end of 2026 to register with the relevant authorities. However, the ministry said the "majority of female doctors and female pharmacists are already registered with the military." The key change announced earlier in September is that female medical and pharmaceutical students will be registered with the military immediately after graduation.

The Oct.

1 deadline ensures that educational institutions submit a list to the relevant military enlistment office at least two months before the end of students' studies. "Military registration is not the same as mobilization," the Health Ministry explained, as the registration system is used to assess the available reserve of doctors, and does not mean automatic enlistment.

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News Editor

Elsa Court is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She was previously an intern at the Kyiv Post and has a Master's in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University. Before joining the Kyiv Independent, she worked at the Netherlands Red Cross programme to arrange hosts for Ukrainian refugees and as a freelance writer and editor.

Elsa is originally from the UK and is based in the Netherlands.