Three hospitals refused to admit for treatment a 47 year-old woman from Kazanlak with acute myocardial infarction. After a whole day of wandering between health facilities Dafinka Boneva was hospitalized at the University Hospital “St. George” in Plovdiv, where doctors saved her life. The treatment, however, will be paid by the Plovdiv health facility that accumulates debts because of the large number of patients admitted without health insurance. The doctors in Plovdiv warn that there is an agreement between small hospitals and emergency care such patients to be diverted only to large clinics.

The case of the 47 year-old Dafinka had to wander between different hospitals in serious condition, which is not a precedent – the doctors of the University Clinic in Plovdiv explain. The woman was referred by the Emergency Centre in Kazanlak to the hospital in Stara Zagora, from there to Haskovo, because she had no health insurance. Because everywhere refused to examine her, the patient with heart attack had to be transported all the way to University Hospital in Plovdiv.

Dr. Gincho Tonev – Head of Department of Invasive Cardiology – University Hospital “St. George”: “The order of the current Minister is patients in such conditions, with acute myocardial infarction to be hospitalized in the nearest hospital having the adequate structure, namely Invasive cardiology. This thing has not happened.”

In Plovdiv the patient received medical care and has already been discharged in good health. However, her treatment costs the hospital BGN 7 000 – amount that the woman can not pay. Cases like this are almost daily in the health facility.

Physicians claim that there is a tacit agreement between small hospitals and emergency care not to admit uninsured patients. Dr. Gincho Tonev – Head of Department of Invasive Cardiology – University Hospital “St. George”: “We all suspect such thing and we are almost certain.”

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In connection with the case the hospitals of the Bulgarian Cardiac Institute in Yambol, Veliko Tarnovo, Pleven, Shoumen and Varna declared their willingness to accept for treatment all patients in need of emergency cardiac care, regardless of their insurance status – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In emergency cases, for patients with acute condition, the specialized hospitals are ready to send modern ambulances with medical teams to any part of the country. “The vocation to save life stands far above any economic or bureaucratic obstacles” the BCI declared.