Government clears the way for military procurement without contest, reads a headline in Sega newspaper. The paper goes on to explain that amendments to the regulations minimize any chance of public scrutiny of how and why a given army supplier is selected if the cabinet says that in the choice of supplier sensitive information pertaining to national security is shared, Sega writes.

Law may hike prices of medicines by 10 percent, writes Capital Daily. According to a draft on amendments to the Medicinal Products in Human Medicine Act pharmacies shall not receive quantity discounts, i.e. wholesale prices shall be fixed. With this draft the Ministry of Health is also endeavouring to stop parallel medicine exports. This is the second time the ministry is trying to stop the export of medicinal products to countries where prices are higher. The first attempt was checked by the European Commission, as parallel trade is deemed a tool for reducing prices and is hence encouraged by the Commission.

Trud newspaper also focusses on health issues under the title “Moskov introduces medical treatment by prayer”. The time is drawing near when hospital and outpatient therapy will need prayers, the directors of leading hospitals in Sofia caution. The reason for this is that the health policy pursued by Minister of Health Petar Moskov is leading to an unprecedented rise in the cost of medicines, covered by hospitals and polyclinics.

Trakia highway collapses, reads the top story carried by Zemya newspaper. The new sections where politicians stage ribbon-cutting ceremonies are riddled with defects, the paper writes. The asphalt surface of a new section of Trakia highway really has collapsed, the Road Infrastructure Agency admits. 

800 cases of transportation of illegal migrants up before the court – the network involves thousands of Bulgarians, writes 19 minuiti (19 minutes). The Bulgarian smugglers pick up the incoming aliens from the unsecured sections of the Turkish border and take them to Bourgas. According to the newspaper’s sources, the transportation of one migrant from Bourgas to Sofia costs 500 euro. The minimum monthly wage in the country is 215 euro, the newspaper specifies.

Compiled by Miglena Ivanova

English version Milena Daynova