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May 12, 2015
June 14, 2015 marks the 10th anniversary from the creation of the Department of Cardiac Surgery at the University Hospital “St. Marina” at the Medical University in Varna “Prof. Dr. Paraskev Stoyanov.” For this occasion, on the 12th and 13th of June, a Conference in Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery will be organized in Varna under the auspices of the Medical University in Varna “Prof. Dr. Paraskev Stoyanov”, the Heart – Lung Association, and the annual meeting Varna – Augsburg.
As a leading manufacturer of generic and patent medicines with a wide range of drugs for the cardiovascular system, Tchaikapharma High Quality Medicines AD will also participate with its own representative stand. There visitors will have the opportunity to learn about the latest developments in the field of cardiology and to obtain detailed information on the current portfolio of the company and our latest products registered on the Bulgarian market.
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February 3, 2015
Prosecutors and medical auditors will audit the hospitals together
“Red Phone” between the Prosecution and the Ministry of Health will fight the attacks on emergency medics. This will create a direct channel of communication between the teams of Sotir Tsatsarov and Petar Moskov. This became clear after a meeting between the heads of the two institutions in the prosecution last week. The aim of the measures is to minimize the attacks on medics and to have effective punishment of those responsible.
According to the health ministry a total of 227 attacks on emergency physicians in the past year are reported. Of those, most – 142 in Burgas. Although the law in such cases is very strict and provides for imprisonment of up to 15 years, it is not applied in practice. Since mid-2013, when the attacks on medics were criminalized, there were only five sentences so far, according to the Ministry of Health. The heaviest of them is a suspended sentence of three years in prison for assault in Shoumen District. Another five cases and proceedings are ongoing. The expectation is that by creating a hot link between the Prosecution and the Ministry of Health the law will be applied more effectively.
Apart from cooperation in support of emergency medics, Tsatsarov and Moskov agreed to cooperate in cases of violations in hospitals discovered during inspections by the Medical Audition Agency. To this end the two agencies will sign a special agreement. It will be drawn up by a joint working group. -
Parents are “against” the mandatory vaccines. In an open letter to the state institutions they insist the vaccination calendar to be voluntary.
Within only five days more than 3200 people have signed the petition for voluntary vaccination of children. Parents insist to have the right to decide whether and when to have their children immunized.
“Nowhere in the European legislation is said that vaccines should be compulsory. In Bulgaria, 9 of them are compulsory, we are more Catholic than the Pope”, said the patient’s organization “Together with you”.
In 16 European countries there are no compulsory but only recommended vaccines. In our country if a vaccine is not administered, fines follow and the children have no access to state kindergartens, parents specify. They hope for changes in the Health Act. And if the compulsory vaccination is not dropped out, at least the parents not to be fined.
The pediatricians have different opinion.
“The health culture of our population is still not at a level sufficient to enable individuals to assess the benefits and the negative effect of vaccines,” physicians insist. Professionals remind that the compulsory vaccines are against especially dangerous infections and are not selected randomly. Polio, tetanus, diphtheria – are diseases that have disappeared due to the fact that children have been immunized. -
The government approved changes to the National Programme for primary prevention of cervical cancer in the Republic of Bulgaria 2012-2016, which provide for extension of the target group subject to immunization program by including 13 year old girls, informed the press office of the Council of ministers. A two-dose mode of conducting the immunization scheme is adopted, which corresponds to the changes in 2014 in the summary product characteristics of both vaccines used in the prevention of human papillomavirus oncogenic infections.
The new scheme will result in the release of financial resources within the approved budget of the Programme and will provide the parents, who missed the opportunity to immunize their daughters or parents, who changed their minds about the benefits of prophylactic immunization, the possibility of free immunization
The necessary resources to implement the Programme are at the expense of the approved budget of the Ministry of Health. The mechanism of financing the cost of vaccines and their administration by the National Health Insurance Fund through transfer of funds from the Ministry of Health is preserved.
With the adoption of the National Programme for primary prevention of cervical cancer in the Republic of Bulgaria 2012-2016, the country implement the recommendations of WHO to include vaccination against HPV in national strategies for the control of cervical cancer and became the 24th state in Europe to provide public funds for immunization against HPV, while retaining the recommendatory nature of the prophylactic immunization. The immunization coverage achieved with complete immunization schedule of three doses of prophylactic vaccine in relation to the number of girls targeted given in percentages is 24% for 2013 and 17.7% in the nine months of 2014. -
Last week, the cabinet approved and will put to a vote in the National Assembly the proposed by the Minister of Health Petar Moskov changes in the Health Insurance Act related to hospitals, pay for medicines, collection of health insurance and others. The goals of the reform are twofold – to increase revenue in the system and make more efficient spending of the funds collected. Here are some of the proposed changes:
Measures against people without health insurance
The state gives a period of only six months to people without health insurance to pay their installments due for three years back to reenter the system. When this period expires, for the recovery of health insurance rights in practice the due installments will be from the commencement of the compulsory health insurance (i.e. from 2000), and not as per current legal regulations – for only three years.
The Minister of Health Petar Moskov explained that efforts by the NRA and the MF to collect health insurance installments are giving results.
The changes provide that the relevant health institutions after examination of an uninsured are obliged within three days to report to the NRA. Moscow explained that the state should know at any time how many are the uninsured.
The measure is put forward as part of proposals to increase the health insurance revenue and increase the revenue of the budget of the NHIF.
More stringent control over the quality of hospital services
The systematic violation of the requirements for quality of medical care will serve as a ground for termination of the funding from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), proposes also the cabinet. According to the requested changes, the contract with the medical care provided can be terminated also when a systematic patients’ dissatisfaction is established. The NHIF is obliged to carry out a study of patient satisfaction with the health services covered.
Two packages of health services will be covered by the NHIF
The package of medical services covered by the Health insurance fund is divided into primary and secondary. The specific medical activities to be included in the packages will be regulated by the Minister of Health in an Ordinance.
The proposed changes reinstate the contractual basis in defining the methodologies for valuation and payment of medical activities, the volumes and prices of medical services, and arrangements for monitoring of the implementation of the contracts between the NHIF and the health care providers, as well as penalties for non-compliance. These relations will be negotiated in the National Framework Agreement (NFA) between NHIF and Bulgarian Medical and Bulgarian Dental Associations. This will enhance the participation of the professional organizations in determining the quality criteria for carrying out medical activities and in the treatment results monitoring.
The Arbitration Committees will be reinstated and they will review the opinions of the persons (health care providers) checked in case of established violation of the NFA.
The state will pay more for the health insured by it subjects
The proposed changes provide for gradual increase of the insurance income by 5% a year starting from 2016, on which the state will pay the health insurance installments to reach the minimum insurance income for self-employed persons. Currently the state pays only half of it, which creates conditions for underfunding of the system and accumulates deficit and affects the quality of health care.