In Ukraine sick leave certificate is a valid document justifying an employee’s absence from work. It is also taken into account when reports are submitted to Social Security Fund or various kinds of compensation are calculated. Ironic as it is health insurance can sometimes put the timely issuance of sick leave certificate in jeopardy.
Should your insurance policy cover the services of private medical institutions which often attract the patients thanks to the general comfort and in some cases – even the higher quality of medical services, you might still be disappointed in the end.
The thing is that not all of the brand and private clinics are licensed to issue regular sick leave certificates. Therefore a patient might find out about the impossibility of getting the necessary document after all the treatment is done. Unfortunately, the certificate cannot be backdated in that case.
Is there a way out? The obvious solution is to get medical services from private medical institution licensed to issue sick leave certificates or go to the public hospital altogether. Both options are not quite satisfactory. What can make the matters worse is the absence of registration in Kyiv. In that case you will have to go to the public clinic, submit the request for medical services to the chief of the hospital, get the medical consult and only then the sick leave certificate will be written out for you. The good thing is that you can get the actual treatment at another hospital which suits your needs best.
Not everyone is aware of this problem. The clinics, in their turn, do not rush to point this aspect out when they arrange a doctor’s appointment. Therefore the patient is bound to deal with more trouble in the end.
What is to be done?
Second of all, more private medical institutions should receive the appropriate license. It’s weird when the most expensive clinics do not bother to get their license while the middle-priced institutions have been benefiting from having the license for a while now. It’s normal if a patient expects to get the full range of services from the strong brand medical institution.
Last, but not the least, the delivery of the certificates deserves special attention. Normally the certificates should be picked up individually. That requires both time and energy. However it’s wise to include the delivery option into your insurance policy. Otherwise you will have to pick it up yourself.
