The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) has expressed indignation at the warning of Health Minister Petar Moskov that emergency medical teams will not enter Roma districts unless their safety is guaranteed.

Moskov made clear Sunday that ambulances would not enter Roma neighborhoods where attacks against doctors, paramedics, or ambulance drivers had been registered unless they had reached agreement with the leaders of Roma communities or they were accompanied by police officers.

In a media statement published on Monday, the BHC described Moskov’s Sunday statement as “a racist threat.”

The human rights NGO offered free legal assistance to citizens who had been injured by the possible implementation of the measure.

“Such a public stance on the part of a doctor, who has taken theHippocratic Oath, is loathsome,” the BHC declared.

The BHC described Moskov’s statement as “a gross manifestation of misunderstanding of the principle of rule of law and incitement to racial hatred.”

“In Bulgaria, criminal liability is personal and not collective. Only guilty persons can be held criminally liable. Criminal liability cannot be imposed by the government through arbitrary deprivation of life-saving medical care,” the BHC stated, adding that anybody who failed to comprehend that was not supposed to hold public office in the country.

The BHC likened the stance of Moskov to the ideas of Adolf Hitler, stressing that the deplorable stance of the Health Minister enjoyed the support of nationalist formations such as the Patriotic Front.