PP-DB MP Ivaylo Mirchev stated that the lack of a far-sighted policy over the years has led to the horrifying situation with hospices for the elderly and stressed that inspections are extremely insufficient.
„The state cannot pretend to be surprised by the horrifying revelations about the illegal hospice in the village of Yagoda. The emergence of such places is a consequence of years of short-sighted or absent policies. What solutions are being talked about? Inspections and criminalization. I am not saying that control is unnecessary, on the contrary, there is no way without it. But it is a completely insufficient measure“, Mirchev wrote in a post on the social network.
According to him, even if he checks every day, this will not solve the main problem - we have neither enough nor adequate places for elderly people in need of constant care. “There are also no medical personnel to take on this care. And we don't have any, because Bulgaria has no policies to encourage the creation of these staff or their staying in the country“, added Mirchev.
He called for the implementation of real short-term and medium-term measures.
The former include facilitating the hiring of staff from other countries, the latter - the unused areas in a large part of municipal hospitals can be transformed into hospices that can accommodate people with such needs.
In the long term, Mirchev recommends the creation of a Long-Term Care Fund and also the rethinking of the entire healthcare system, which is currently driving graduating nurses away to work in other countries.
“Many things can be done. The only thing our country cannot afford is to continue to turn a blind eye to problems that it has created itself. Not when our mothers and fathers, our grandmothers and grandfathers suffer from this“, said the PP-DB MP.