„The main problem that can be seen is that this year’s Budget, since I am a member of the Supervisory Board, is BGN 1 billion plus. The problem is that in reality the NHIF is trying to give more funds to primary and specialized hospital care – whether this will actually happen remains to be seen. However, when evaluating the activity of a director of a medical facility, in the case of Pirogov Hospital, we need to know if patient access has increased. In this medical facility, does one nurse care for 30-40 patients or does one nurse care for 5 patients? How many doctors fall? How quickly are these patients served and are they satisfied? These are the main questions that are not being explored.”
This was commented by the Chairman of the Board of the Bulgarian Association for the Protection of Patients, lawyer Plamen Taushanov. He is also part of the Supervisory Board of the NHIF. According to Boryana Boteva, chairwoman of the Organization of Patients with Rheumatological Diseases, it is great that there will be more money for healthcare, but there must be feedback from patients, because there were reports that services paid for by the NHIF were not reaching them.
BGN 62 million from the so-called „medical activities“ will not be used, the lawyer said. According to him, they are „squeezed“ and there is no explanation why they are not done. According to him, both patient organizations want the NHIF to start paying for biomarker diagnostics.
“This will dramatically improve /ed. – the situation with oncological diseases“, because we cannot be the last country in the European Union in which a fund pays us for these studies – which diagnoses are treated with this immunotherapy of theirs and why do companies or patients have to pay large sums – up to BGN 5,000. This is why we want the Fund to start paying for it, so that diagnosis can be improved. The most important question, which is slightly bypassed – why this money has not been used for 10 years. To me, this word „embezzlement“ is not used correctly. The point here is that they should be used as intended, and if these tests are carried out in pre-hospital care, the pressure on hospital care will fall, as we are also the leader in Europe in terms of excess hospitalization – over 2 million,“, he explained.
The most important issue in health care is to receive quality medical care, patients and doctors to be satisfied with what they work or with the care they receive, so that everyone is satisfied, Boteva commented. According to Taushanov, the most important question is when the NHIF will start paying for the relevant activities based on the patients’ satisfaction with the quality or poor medical care provided, that is, to be interested in whether the patient is cured and whether he is improving.
