Bulgarian Medical Union Insists on Urgent Meeting with Prime Minister

Society » HEALTH | December 4, 2020, Friday // 15:22
Bulgaria: Bulgarian Medical Union Insists on Urgent Meeting with Prime Minister wiki

 

The Bulgarian Medical Union sent an open letter to Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. The BMA requested an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister and issued an ultimatum.

For nearly ten months now, Bulgarian medics have been on the frontline, sparing no efforts and demonstrating stoicism, selflessness and self-sacrifice in the fight against the epidemic. Many of our colleagues are currently struggling for their lives, and over 50 medics have died.

Bulgarian Medical Union closely monitors the measures taken by the state to deal with the difficult situation our country is facing and we believe that for the most part they are adequate and timely. We are familiar with the next year budget of the NHIF and that of the state and the planned buffers for the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic. Bulgarian Medical Union is fully aware of its role as an organization that must support the process of timely and correct implementation of the measures taken and their timely reach to our colleagues.

But unfortunately, for the whole period from March to now, against the background of thousands of fates marked by Covid-19, the management of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) behaves as if the epidemic does not exist and disregards the seriousness of the situation. Any of the anti-epidemic measures announced by the National Operational Staff or Council of Ministers instead of being implemented urgently is applied with an extremely long delay due to purposeful attempts at delay, bureaucratic approach and administrative setbacks by the management of the NHIF.

From the announcement of the decision to open Covid wards in all medical facilities to concluding contracts with hospitals that had not treated Covid-infected before, more than two months have passed. The reason - refusal by the National Health Insurance Fund to conclude contracts with medical institutions.

The most recently announced measures for financial provision of outpatient care facilities, medical centers and general practitioners, practically have been implemented only now, when less than a month remains until the end of the year.

During our last meeting with the NHIF held to discuss the work of the medics in the coming year and the parameters of the last Annex to the National Framework Agreement for 2020-2022, due be signed, many of our questions related to the extension of the measures applied in medicine also in 2021  we received purely bureaucratic answers "no money", "it's beyond our competence".

This behavior is totally unacceptable and is a mockery of the Bulgarian medics, who are still on the battlefield at this moment, a mockery of those colleagues of ours who are still struggling for their lives, a mockery of the memory of those who died.

DEAR PRIME MINISTER,

In view of the above, we demand an urgent meeting with you to share our concerns and worries. We have a duty to ensure security and predictability for our colleagues. It is of paramount importance that we enter the new year convinced that the efforts of the Bulgarian medics are appreciated and supported and that everything necessary has been done to make them feel at ease in order to continue to fight the uneven battle with the insidious disease.

Otherwise, we will refuse to participate in the negotiation process with the NHIF and we will not sign the Annex to the National Framework Agreement for 2020-2022 because we find no point in having talks with and being responsible together with a negotiation party on which "nothing depends".

 

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Tags: BMU, open letter, Boyko Borissov

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