Bulgaria's prime minister, well known for his populist pledges, plans to assign top priority to the country's struggling health system, plagued by chronic underfunding, brain-drain and a lack of meaningful reform.

"The government will push for more money and will help the Health Minister, whom we left high and dry this year," Boyko Borisov told Darik radio on Sunday.

He stressed the funding allotted to the health care sector is more than BGN 3.25 envisaged in the state budget, since it does not take account of the money fot he hositals that cater to officials from the interior, transport and defense ministry.

After years of lumbering reforms in Bulgaria's health care system, Bulgarian hospitals are running out of cash and patients suffer.

Hospitals across the country have suspended planned operations and reduced admission of emergency cases due to lack of money, while the increasing number of mistakes in diagnoses and surgery costs more and more lives.

A number of governments have failed to implement reforms. Not a single health minister has managed to plug the holes in the system.

The new Minister Stefan Konstantinov inherited is a huge load of problems - understaffing, supply shortages, braindrain, bribes to doctors and nurses to ensure better treatment, high debts and chronic lack of money – but has hardly made any difference.

In recession-battered Bulgaria, the government spends just 4.2%  of its GDP on health. All employed and self-employed Bulgarians are obliged to make monthly health insurance contributions of 8% of their income to the Health Insurance Fund, but it has been plagued by corruption and funds siphoning is no exception there. Besides the state pays meager health insurance contributions for the people under its wing.

At the same time the European Union is offering BGN 300 M in funds for equipment and repair works at hospitals, but it takes good projects to absorb them. Meanwhile expenses are constantly on the rise and both the state and the patients are forced to dig deeper into their pockets.

As a result Europe-wide polls show that the lowest levels of satisfaction with health care are reported in Bulgaria, which even lags behind Albania and Macedonia.