Dr. Stoicho Katsarov: Medical establishments in Bulgaria have combined liabilities of BGN 500 bn

Some BGN 500 bn are the combined liabilities of the nation's more than 10,000 medical establishments, Dr. Stoicho Katsarov, head of the Center for Patients Rights Protection, told Bulgaria ON AIR. According to Katsarov, at the heart of the problem is the flawed system under which hospitals receive funding from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). The real issue is not the amount of health care spending, but the way money is distributed, he added. Money should follow patients, covering the expenses of whatever hospital people choose to be treated in. Another problem is that NHIF is forced to assume the responsibility for activities outside the realm of health insurance, such as in vitro procedures and prevention measures. Moreover, given the shortage of funding for the existing package of services covered by NHIF, the list of activities should be limited rather than extended. This creates a deficit in the system which is being shifted from the insurance fund towards medical establishments. To navigate successfully through the sea of hospitals, patients now can rely on an online platform rating health care facilities based on patients estimates. The criteria will be staff competence, cleanness, food quality and the level of other hospital activities, part of the all-around patient care, Dr. Stoicho Katsarov said. There is an alarming increase in bad attitudes from doctors and medical staff toward patients – denial of information, rough treatment of one's problem etc. All of this leads to poor quality of medical care in the country – a tendency which will continue throughout the year, Katsarov predicted.

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