Prices of eight cancer cure medications in Bulgaria have increased with an average 386% just in the course of one year.

The information was published Tuesday in the form of a comparative table by the municipal councilman and former candidate for mayor of Sofia from the opposition left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, Georgi Kadiev.

The table shows that in 2011, after the National Health Insurance Fund, NZOK, took over the signing of the contracts, which was previously under the authority of the Health Ministry, prices of each of the eight medications skyrocketed between 254% and 497%, compared to 2010, leading to losses for the State in the amount of BGN 8.7 M.

Kadiev says that this price hike had led to huge profits for pharmaceutical companies, the distributors, and the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, and the later uses the profits to feed its "black treasury" and buy votes. The Socialists further stressed that the losers are the cancer patients and their families, who are forced to strain their budget or purchase fewer medications.

"And I am talking only about 8 medications. Imagine what is going on in the healthcare sector overall. Politics is a cause, but not for GERB, for them it is money. The table is the proof," Kadiev had written on his Facebook profile.

The scandal cost Health Minister, Stefan Konstantinov, his post.

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