Hospitals in Sofia are facing a crisis as they turn away emergency patients due to a severe shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds. The alarming issue came to light during a forum discussing the challenges within Bulgaria’s healthcare system, where a nurse from the Sofia Emergency Service shed light on the dire situation.

Despite being mandated by law to accommodate emergency cases, both public and private hospitals are refusing admission to patients in critical condition, according to Kristina Mancheva of the Sofia Emergency Service. She described the distressing scenario where emergency teams are forced to shuttle from one hospital to another in search of available ICU beds, often resulting in tragic outcomes.

"The team starts going around - first hospital, second hospital, third hospital, fourth hospital. Signature after signature, it even got to the point where the patient was returned home if they did not die in the ambulance during that time," Mancheva revealed.

In response to the crisis, the Bulgarian Medical Union has proposed the reinstatement of state emergency aid services. Dr. Ivan Madzharov emphasized the urgent need for dedicated state-run emergency cabinets in every municipality across Bulgaria to provide round-the-clock care on weekends and holidays.

Meanwhile, Ivanka Dineva, director of the "Medical Supervision" agency, announced plans to conduct inspections of emergency care services nationwide by the end of March. The initiative aims to assess the current state of emergency care facilities and address critical deficiencies in service delivery.