Photo by Nadya Kotseva (Sofia Photo Agency)
Bulgaria's doctors union demanded on Tuesday that the cabinet allocates at least 6% of gross domestic product (GDP) for healthcare in next year's government budget.
"It's high time we recognised the truth that the current allocation is not enough to cover the cost of the basic package of medical services, which are offered to patients for free," the chairman of the doctors union Andrey Kehayov said.
The union, the Healthcare Ministry and the state National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) started the talks on the annual framework agreement, which sets out the costs of all medical services and the degree to which the fund covers the cost of various medicines.
Bulgaria could raise the budget allocation for healthcare, 4,3% of GDP for this year, by using some of its budget surplus, the chairman of the parliamentary healthcare committee Borislav Kitov said.
However, the talks on the agreement, which has to be signed before the end of the year, are futile at this stage, when the cabinet is still to announce the macroeconomic framework of next year's budget.
The cabinet is also yet to decide whether to increase the mandatory healthcare contributions paid by all employees.