NHOC has a contract with 384 medical facilities by the end of 2023, with 50-55 of them taking on 75% of the entire volume of medical activities, and for the remaining 329, a quarter of the activities remain. This is what the director of the hospital “St. Ivan Rilski“ and former manager of the NHSOC, Dr. Decho Dechev.
He explained that among these 55 medical facilities there are also private ones that are doing very well. And he explained that “no private party will allow himself to appoint another political paratrooper if he does not have expert qualities“ because he is chasing certain results.
„A certain number of hospitals does not necessarily mean a high quality of medical services provided. Quality is determined by radically different criteria. The countries that managed to achieve good indicators achieved them not for one or two years, but for decades”, he also said.
Dr. Dechev also gave an example. “In 1939, the average life expectancy in our country was 59 years. In 1989, she was 71 years old. Everyone would ask themselves how this happened, since in those years the population did not have access to high technology and new drugs. I will answer right away – good organization of health care", he explained.
The director of the hospital “St. Ivan Rilski“ admitted that a few decades ago, one of the main parts of the doctors' work was to carry out regular preventive examinations at enterprises. According to him, then every Bulgarian had equal access to health services – something that has changed since 1989
„There was also a protocol for interaction between the hospitals, i.e. if in one medical institution they consider that they do not have the resources to treat a given patient, a consultant is called or the patient is transferred to another medical institution. This protocol was interrupted because we entered a different health care model, he added.
Dr. Dechev also commented on the subject of the disclosure of private hospitals in our country. “I am one of those people who have always argued that a red line should not be crossed regarding the participation of private hospitals in the treatment process, but on the condition that the state stands by its commitment to provide Bulgarians with access to quality medical services” , he explained.
He pointed out that until 15 years ago, private healthcare did not have such an impact on the healthcare sector because it was significantly less developed. “At that time, we did not have a debate about whether or not we needed private hospitals. Now things are radically different – definitely and unequivocally, today the state cannot cope only with its available hospitals”, he was categorical.
The director of the hospital “St. Ivan Rilski“ also commented on the provision of hospitals with personnel and equipment. He expressed regret that the trends are to ruin public hospitals, without committing to an answer to the question of whether this is being done deliberately in order to better develop private clinics.