Ombudsman appeals to the Health Ministry to listen to the transplant experts

Patients and physicians do not oppose the use of generic medicines but they demand adequate regulation from the Health Minister, stated yesterday the Ombudsman Mr. Konstantin Penchev, at the discussion on the medicines provided by the NHIF (National Health Insurance Fund) to maintain the life of organ transplant patients. The forum was attended by organisations of transplant recipients, experts from the Health Ministry and leading Bulgarian specialists in this field. The public intermediary did not hide his surprise that the opinion of eminent Bulgarian experts is not being taken into account by the Health Ministry in drawing up the ordinances for the positive medicines list. "When we draft a legal act out of stubbornness, even if we have the right to introduce it, this act will always be regarded with less confidence and its application is doomed to failure," commented Konstantin Penchev. He organised the discussion at the request of the Bulgarian Union of Transplant Patients. According to the patient organisation, in case there is an amendment to the Ordinance concerning the Criteria, the Conditions and the Rules for Inclusion of Medicinal Products into the Positive List of Pharmaceuticals of the Republic of Bulgaria, they should start using generic immunosuppressants, instead of original drugs. This can cause a rejection of the transplanted organs and the cost of treatment will become even higher. Professor Dobrin Svinarov operating at the University Polyprofile Hospital for Active Treatment "Alexandrovska", who attended the discussion, explained that the proposed ordinance for determining the pricing and reimbursement of medicines, actually eliminates the experts’ opinion, while the Commission which decides which drugs can be on the positive list is composed of ordinary civil servants. Doctor Veselin Yordanov, who is a transplant recipient, told the public intermediary that nobody should dare play with the lives of people who have survived such surgical interventions.

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