The Minister of Health Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mihail Okoliyski stands behind the demands of the Bulgarian Medical Union (BLS), but with a new budget.
"There is no dialogue between us and the Ministry of Health. The budget of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) is introduced by the Minister of Health, and that is why we called on him", said the chairman of the BMA Dr. Nikolay Brunzalov in the program "Denyat ON AIR".
There is no meeting at this time, and the contact is "clearly through the media". In his words, this is "evading responsibility". "In 2027, our activities will be paid at the price of 2024", Dr. Brunzalov told Bulgaria ON AIR.
"The minister says "there is no budget, nothing in healthcare can get better funding", but at the same time he imposes two regulations - concerning prevention, medical check-ups, as well as package activities of the Fund. Additionally, activities are being introduced for which the corresponding calculation has not been made", the chairman of the Bulgarian Medical Association warns.
According to him, this is a double standard and a way to distort the entire algorithm.
"Effective strike actions in the healthcare system are not like blocking Sofia and having no trams and buses. Here things are completely different and this is exactly what many rulers are using - they rely on the love for the profession of healthcare workers and the understanding that our problems can be postponed without strike action. This is used as a motive and leads to a lot of distortion", added Dr. Nikolay Brunzalov.
The Chairman of the Bulgarian Medical Association is categorical that things "cannot remain like this with this refrain - no budget, no increase in activities".
Dr. Brunzalov emphasized that the system is underfunded and there is hardly a person in Bulgaria who does not see it. "In order to fill the NHIF budget, preventive control must be introduced, the holes must be plugged and additional funds must be found for the treatment of Bulgarians, because they are not enough anyway. Every second Bulgarian pays extra for their treatment - this is very unfortunate. There is no country in the EU with an 8% health insurance contribution. Sooner or later this problem must be solved - we are "for" control. We have made our proposals, not a single politician has paid attention to them," said the chairman of the Bulgarian Medical Association.
According to him, in order to have these problems, the Treasury allows for violations.
"Things must start with another budget - a better one, of course," noted Dr. Nikolay Brunzalov.