The wave of massive protests across Bulgaria did not miss the Bulgarian doctors. Insufficient financing of the healthcare system, lack of transparency in the distribution of the funds provided by the National Health Insurance Fund and monopolistic policy led by this fund- this is how the Bulgarian Medical Association described the reasons for the discontent of the Bulgarian healthcare workers. The protest will be under the motto “For the health and well-being of the nation”.  February 28 is the date when all doctors across the country are going out on the streets to protest. Diana Chinarska who is a member of the management board of the Bulgarian Medical Association gave the reasons for these protests.

“We had previously negotiated certain terms of financing which were changed in the last minute. So, we refused to sign them. As a result, the National Health Insurance Fund came up with a punitive statement and decided to put limits on the number of the medical directions for free laboratory examinations as well as on the number of the medical cards issued by the general practitioners which had to send their patients for medical consultation with a specialist from a certain medical field. Their number was reduced by up to 30% in some Bulgarian regions. This placed us in the hard situation where we have to decide whether to provide medical treatment to a certain patient or not. Thus, we felt restricted to practice our profession freely. We are protesting so we can treat our patients without any limits and under all medical rules, just like our colleagues from the other EU countries. Of course we do not mean that we should spend money unwisely, but we want to achieve freedom of the medical mind. We would like to treat our patients within the spirit of the positive doctor’s practice. We also want people to have equal access to all hospitals in the country, guaranteed by their health insurance payments”, concludes Diana Chinarska.

The Bulgarian Medical Association insists on the immediate resignation of Doctor Plamen Tsekov, director of the National Health Insurance Fund and the cancellation of all regulative methods which made it hard for the Bulgarian hospitals to take adequate care of the Bulgarian citizens. The decision for national protests came after the multiple signals from many parts of the country about the unfavorable conditions, offered by the National Health Insurance Fund to the hospitals in 2013. According to the directors of these hospitals, this will lead to a reduction of the personnel, closure of many departments and the inability of the hospitals to treat their patients. There are worrying forecast about the future of significant hospitals such as the Institute for Emergency Medical Aid Pirogov, Saint Ekaterina hospital and the National Hospital for Cardiology. Representatives of Pirogov announced that the hospital should have ceased the work on some medical directions on February 20 for at least three months under these regulatios. The Bulgarian Medical Association protests against the decision which envisages that some medical activities, which were until recently paid by the state, must be covered by money from the National Health Insurance Fund. These are vaccines and in-vitro fertilization procedures. According to the BMA, this puts additional burden over the NHIF and the Bulgarian doctors.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov