This seems extremely abnormal to me, except in one, single case where a heavily indebted hospital has found a capable manager who is headlong leading it from debt to debt relief, which we do not have, said in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio, former Minister of Health and former Director of Oncology in Sofia Dr. Stefan Konstantinov.
He commented on the five-figure salaries of directors of state hospitals, given that medical institutions are drowning in debt.
"It is also abnormal, not so much the numbers, but their dynamics over time, because I did the math to compare my salaries and what salaries we directors received just 4 years ago. And the numbers are quite shocking. The increase in director salaries in state hospitals is going at a rate 7 times faster than inflation in the country. In just 4 years, salaries themselves have increased 2.4 times. If we compare this with the SRH, it is also 2.4 times faster than the average salary. That is, we see that directors of state hospitals are very favored and prioritized, not just by a few percent, but by times the entire population. This has no explanation in terms of results. If these hospitals were increasing their share of the treated population, were among the fastest growing, there is some explanation. This rapid increase has no explanation and the picture becomes even worse against the background of the fact that in reality the income of doctors, the income for the last 2 years has been completely frozen. The basic salaries are around 1000 - 1200 euros. I mean, for old doctors, to whom I belong, these salaries, the only legal way to increase their income is by choosing teams. And the price there has remained unchanged for 16 years. And that's why hospitals and colleagues are on the verge of the law or going beyond it in demanding money from patients, which totally destroys the system," commented Dr. Konstantinov.
According to him, he finds it normal when there is a change of power to change leaders: "Whenever there is a radical change, there is also a radical change in the management echelon. I find this normal, but I don't find the way it happened convincing, however."
And he recommended: "If something needs to be done meaningfully, the personal changes - I would draw the attention of the legislator to return the normal situation, where at the highest level the NHIF governor is elected by the National Assembly, and the deputy governor will be from the team. This way there will be clear responsibility and personal accountability will be maintained."