Since 2026, medical students will be prepared for the army: which provides for the law signed by Zelensky

However, for future physicians and pharmacists, this training will be mandatory - provided they are suitable for service and have successfully received selection. The law also obliges all higher education institutions that are taught in medical or pharmaceutical specialties, to organize the passage of military training for their students.

The order of such training will be determined by the Government on the proposal of the Ministry of Defense, and the list of specialties and volumes of training will be coordinated with the Ministries of Education and Health. In addition, the explanatory note to the bill states that during a full -scale war there was an acute lack of military doctors and pharmacists. Because of this, combat losses, mortality and disability are increasing among the wounded.

To save lives and return the military to the system, more health care professionals are required. Currently, only about 5% of students of medical and pharmaceutical specialties undergo military training, mainly at their own expense. Moreover, many universities do not have military medicine departments, so training opportunities are limited. Therefore, the new law is intended to change it.

In particular, it will allow you to create new departments of military training, increase the number of students who will be trained, and make it free and compulsory for all future doctors. The law will enter into force the next day after the official publication, and will take effect from January 1, 2026. By this time, the government should update the regulatory framework and create all the conditions for the introduction of new requirements.

We will remind, at the beginning of the year at the Ministry of Education and Science it was stated that since September 2025 in Ukrainian higher education institutions will first teach a course of basic general military training for students. The theoretical part of the program will be a separate discipline that will be established for both women and men. The Ministry of Education and Science stated that this discipline may become binding, but it all depends on the final text of the law.