The crisis with nurses is now affecting not only hospitals, but also nurseries. This was stated in the program "Face to Face" on bTV by the MP from "Democratic Bulgaria" Elisaveta Belobradova.
According to her, the health system lacks 29 thousand nurses, and out of 1000 places in the state order for training nurses, only 600 have been filled.
„Currently, the average number of nurses to doctors should be two nurses per doctor. This is the minimum for the European Union. Currently, there are 0.9 nurses per doctor,“ said Belobradova.
According to her, the problem is already being felt seriously in nurseries. Currently, over 500 nurses are needed, but 375 are working. Of these, 175 are over 70 years old.
“When you look after a small child – two years old, can you imagine running around the yard, picking up the child, changing him? All of these are occupations. Women over 70 cannot be burdened with this heavy task. Because it is dangerous for them and for the children,“ she commented.
According to her, 78 nurseries are about to be closed precisely because of the lack of nurses. Belobradova emphasized that the proposal of “Democratic Bulgaria“ it is not that nurses should be removed from nurseries.
„The entire sector can – every nurse can stay working, but little by little the places that cannot be filled should go to specialists in „Early Childhood Development“ over the years“, she explained.
Among the proposals is that nurseries should be transferred to the Ministry of Education and Science and merged with kindergartens.
Belobradova also commented on the press conference related to the tragedy in Petrokhan. She stated that „Democratic Bulgaria“ insists on a full clarification of the facts and an answer from the State Security Service on whether the people who lived in the hut had any connection with the services.
According to her, it must be made clear whether the people who lived in the hut were informants or had any other affiliation with state services.
„We want to know what the connection and affiliation was, especially - did the people living in the hut have any connection with state institutions, state services“, said Belobradova.