Employees of the Health Inspectorate in Varna inspect the private medical practice of the medic who took nearly BGN 1,500 for the examination of a child who came from Lithuania with his family on vacation in "Golden Sands".
The case caused comments even among the doctors themselves. What are the obligations of private medical practices and what rights do patients have?
10 private medical practices work during the summer in the "Golden Sands" resort, BNT listed. By law, they must meet the same requirements as those with a contract with the NHIF. The difference is that they can set the prices for medical activities themselves.
"There is no regulation to regulate such prices. "Each medical facility forms its prices according to costs, direct, indirect and profit", said Prof. Tsonko Paunov, director of the RZI – Varna.
Doctors from private practices in the resort refused to stand in front of our camera, but shared that the amount requested by their colleague was too high.
In one of the private doctor's medical practices in "Golden Sands" we learned that the examination for Bulgarians is 75 BGN, and the examination for foreigners is 150 BGN.
By law, the tariffs for medical services for foreigners and Bulgarians must be the same. In addition, every patient has the right to know the prices of medical services in the medical facility of his choice.
"It is the duty of every medical facility to announce its price list in a public and accessible place, so that patients know in advance what they will pay," added Maria Sharkova, a lawyer.
Our check found that there is no price list in front of the office of the doctor who treated the Lithuanian child. On the phone, he said that information about the prices was in his office, promising to send us the price list.
We still didn't get it by the end of the business day.
From the Executive Agency "Medical Supervision" stated that they have information about two cases of money taken for the treatment of a child, one of which was in "Golden Sands".
"We are forming a team to check the two signals. "Unfortunately, we do not have any details about this report, which we were contacted by phone yesterday, but we still know the town where the medical center is located and we will carry out an inspection," Ivanka Dineva, director of the "Medical Supervision" Executive Agency, also said.
According to lawyer Maria Sharkova, real valuation of medical services, which is within the powers of the Ministry of Health, is extremely necessary. And that would solve a lot of pricing issues.