The Military Medical Academy (MMA) and the Ministry of Interior Hospital will merge into a single structure as of January 1, 2012, became clear yesterday during a roundtable at the Council of Ministers on the prospects and development of healthcare for state officials. “The liabilities of MMA are about 50% of the liabilities of the Ministry of Defence and are due to the fact that state institutions do not pay anything for medical treatment,” commented Defence Minister Gen. Anyu Angelov. He gave as an example the National Security Service (NSS), the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the State Agency for National Security (SANS), and explained that this should change. Gen. Angelov added that 18% of MMA’s patients are Interior Ministry employees and another 18% are from the Ministry of Defence.

“We want to have the best healthcare for the employees of the Interior Ministry and the members of their families,” said Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov. He stated that opportunities should be sought for using the best of both hospitals. Asked whether staff from the Interior Ministry Hospital would be laid off, Tsvetanov replied he would not worry about them because they are highly-qualified. According to him, we should not be talking about a merger of the two hospitals since the idea is still being discussed. The Interior Minister commented that one of the options is for the Interior Ministry Hospital to be under the umbrella of the Ministry of Defence and be financed by it.