The investigation in the largest Bulgarian hospital – UMBAL “St. George“ in Plovdiv raises the question of how the scheme to drain over 3 million euros worked and how many people were needed to implement it.
Initially, 10 people were arrested in the case, with three released on bail and three remaining in custody.
“Let's do a little retrospection. What was founded in 1925, when 42 hospitals were inspected. And as a result, they were inspected for 6 months, including by the National Agency for the Protection of Patients, the Bulgarian Institute for the Protection of Patients and In this case, the charge was for 7 million euros, but later 117 thousand euros were eventually proven.
According to him, the problems with control continue. He also pointed to a case in which a patient was hospitalized 56 times. “One version of the manager was that the person was sick, he did not leave the hospital for 56 times. And the other version is that the patient does not know at all“, said Taushanov.
He asked why patients do not receive notifications about each hospitalization, given that their data is known. According to him, through the Personal Identification Number and the National Health Information System, it is possible to check how many times a patient has been hospitalized.
“All these abuses can be proven very easily. And this should be the minister's task. Everything can be checked using the Personal Identification Number, in the National Health Information System. How many times have they been hospitalized? "Because we have over-hospitalization," he said.
Taushanov pointed out that 2.4 million clinical pathways and 2 million outpatient procedures have been accepted for 2026. According to him, no one is investigating why there are so many hospitalizations.
When asked why there is no control, he replied: “Because someone needs to understand that this subsequent control is inefficient.“
According to him, the Supervisory Board cannot solve the problem if the operational management and everyone down the chain up to the last controller do not fulfill their duties.
“The Supervisory Board cannot do anything if the operational management, managers, deputy managers and everyone down the chain up to the last controller do not do their job“, said Taushanov.
According to him, the scheme that the investigators are talking about in Plovdiv cannot be implemented without the participation of more people along the chain.
“It cannot, of course, because who signs a contract with the Health Insurance Fund? It is not the individual doctors, nor the head of the clinic. The manager, the executive director and the management conclude contracts with the Fund and they cannot help but be impressed by how there is over-hospitalization of these beds every other day, every two, simultaneously on one day and so on“, he said.
Taushanov pointed out that, in his opinion, such a practice occurs in many medical institutions. He gave an example of bed utilization of 186%, which, in his words, occurs when patients overlap on the same day.
When asked how exactly the money is taken from such a scheme, he explained that it is mainly about unjustified hospitalization of patients.
“The last scheme is mainly about unjustified hospitalization of patients. Without having real criteria, those who do not exist are entered. But the money goes to the hospital“, said Taushanov.
According to him, the medical facility presents an invoice to the Health Insurance Fund for the hospitalized patient, and the Fund must pay.
He also commented on the interest of doctors to participate in such schemes. According to him, there are official remunerations, as well as additional material incentives, which are distributed in the medical facilities.
He explained that there are differences in remunerations depending on the clinical paths, as in some clinics they are paid lower, and in others - more expensive, for example surgical and cardiological.
When asked whether a doctor can receive 20 thousand euros per month from participation in such a scheme, Taushanov replied that there is no way to say. He emphasized that there is no official report on how much each doctor receives from the additional material incentives.
“Have you officially heard how much each doctor receives with the additional financial incentive? There is no such official report“, he said