That is not how things should be done – in the dark, through MPs, without public discussion. Payments for personal assistants are being frozen, and they may very well be reduced as well. The contracts of personal assistants are being changed, and there is no clarity whatsoever as to which rights will be protected. Mothers of children with disabilities were given no opportunity to take part in this debate. This is an outrage that we will oppose. Elisaveta Belobradova of „Democratic Bulgaria“ said this regarding the amendments to the Personal Assistance Act proposed by the governing parties.
Members of Parliament Katya Paneva and Dr. Aleksandar Simidchiev also commented on the amendments to the Health Act submitted yesterday.
„These amendments concern the way in which the Territorial Expert Medical Committees and the National Expert Medical Committee determine the degree of disability and the need for assistance from another person. Electronic referrals and the exchange of information will facilitate the process. The comprehensive assessment is particularly important because it takes into account how the disability affects a person’s daily life and work,“ said Katya Paneva, Deputy Chair of the Health Care Committee.
„Bulgaria should have introduced this approach long ago, but the proposal draws only partially on the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. In this form, the assessment will not work properly. The methodology has not been made public and has not been discussed with the people who will be directly affected. Six months are utterly insufficient to train the experts, while it remains unclear how it will be guaranteed that assessments will be carried out in the same manner throughout the country. That is why we insist that the methodology be made public and discussed with the people affected,“ Paneva stressed.
„The bill adopts the international classification without adopting its logic. The functional assessment is carried out on the basis of a future methodology, which is recorded in a form, while the decision continues to be made according to a percentage calculated on the basis of a table of diagnoses, as was the case until now. If the form does not affect the result, it will simply be yet another form. The bill on the Territorial Expert Medical Committees proposed by the PP must be part of a systematic policy of this government,“ Dr. Simidchiev added.