Bulgarian Medical Union

In response to the recent deaths of two newborns due to whooping cough, the Ministry of Health in Bulgaria has implemented measures to curb the spread of the disease. Dr. Galya Kondeva, the Minister of Health, revealed at an extraordinary briefing that the ministry has initiated steps to limit the outbreak's impact.

Bulgaria boasts a higher number of graduated and practicing doctors per capita compared to the European Union's average, according to an analysis commissioned by the Bulgarian Medical Union. However, while the country excels in doctor provision, it lags behind in nursing staff, signaling a potential imbalance in healthcare personnel distribution.

"I anticipate the revocation of medical licenses and urge the Bulgarian Medical Association to intervene in the case of the recording from 'Pirogov,' where emergency room physicians are heard issuing threats against Danae's relatives", stated Minister of Health, Professor Hristo Hinkov in BTV studio.

Hospitals in Sofia are facing a crisis as they turn away emergency patients due to a severe shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds. The alarming issue came to light during a forum discussing the challenges within Bulgaria's healthcare system, where a nurse from the Sofia Emergency Service shed light on the dire situation.

Bulgaria has failed with the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in the course of the pandemic, and the deaths in the country are several times higher than the world average, according to an up-to-date medical report conducted by a team of Bulgarian scientists and published in the prestigious British Medical Journal.

The Chairman of the Bulgarian Medical Union, Dr. Ivan Madzharov, expresses his approval for the priorities announced by the new Minister of Health, Prof. Hristo Hinkov - to stop the uncontrolled growth of the healthcare network in the country and to reduce the co-payments made by patients.

"I don't tend to make predictions about how severe the flu wave will be, but there are two reasons why experts are particularly cautious. One is the data from the Southern Hemisphere, where Australia and New Zealand have faced their worst flu epidemic since 5- 6 years. The other reason is that public immunity to influenza has declined during the pandemic."

Problems with the medical software of one of the companies led to problems after the introduction of fully electronic referrals on June 1. This was announced to Nova TV by the general practitioner Dr. Nikolay Branzalov, Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Medical Union.

Assoc. Prof. Atanas Mangarov violates the main texts of the Code of Professional Ethics of Doctors in Bulgaria, said his colleague in a signal to the Bulgarian Medical Union.

Last week, the supervisory board of the National Health Insurance Fund decided that general practitioners could prescribe free medicines to treat patients with COVID-19.

Prescriptions will be electronic, but only health insured patients will be able to use them. Until now, such free prescriptions could only be prescribed by medics in the Covid Zone.