There has been an article to-day on BBC news about Stafford Hospital and the lives lost in recent months. How sad caused through bad nursing but mainly bad management

Just how long have we all waited to see someone at a Hospital in the UK

An example from our trials and tribulations in BG.

Poor wife had toothy peg problems

Day 1. Friday . Met Bulgarian Dentist. Beyond her knowledge.
Sent to specialist Dentist, had panoramic xray said she needed to see a Proffesor of Dentistery.

Day 2. Saturday. Went to see prof on a Saturday opened just to see her. Said trouble was not dental but nervous system see specalist.

Day 3. Monday. Went to local Poly Clinic problem diagnosed and medication recomended.

Cost you may ask. Local Dentist and Specialist Dentist nowt. Prof 20nb, Consultant 20nb xrays 24nb total cost 64nb at the time after currency change less than 25 pounds.

It would cost far more than this in the UK, but cost is not the important thing. All this was sorted in less than 3 working days. I know the buildings are old and neglected but the people inside are kind and caring. I dare say some people have had some awful times but speak as we find

I think your story Tony is probably how it is most of the time, but you do need to look at the overall picture and the state of the hospitals in Bulgaria I know of several people who have flown back to the uk just for treatment because they won't trust a Bulgaria hospital not because of staff but because of the state of the hospitals themselves sure there are some that are very clean but then there are those you would take your pet to

Daisy you are quite right but the hospitals that are their health service are to say the least sub standard,but if you are prepaired to pay to go to one of the private hospitals the service is fantastic,and cheap,i would say superior to the uk



Mike

Well said Mike

The private hospital near to the Stadium in Yambol is quite new and plenty of English speaking Doctors

But even so;
I was taken quite ill last Feb had an ambulance to the house, exceptional quite exceptional. First class. Then several visits to the local Poly clinic blood test etc. They found the problem and sorted

When a similar thing happened in the UK I just saw a nurse let alone a consultant.

May view is still the same a good service here

Your ok in a Bulgarian hospital as long as you slip the doctor 20 levs for treating you,as we saw with our own eyes,when we had a worker who had cut his hand badly and we were sitting in a filthy cubicle with him,we might moan about the NHS but if it comes down to it there is no doubt i would choose British Health Service least you know what to expect.

i know a lot of people who go back to the uk, to keep appointments with consultants and to keep their benefits as they have not told them they live in bulgaria.

the uk has the best facilities, but its overloaded and the post code lottery and the long waiting lists are failing the people who need it. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

i have been to 2 nhs hospitals here, the first i will never return to, needs knocking down. the 2 one, i was seen immediatley, put in an ambulance and taken round the corner (honest) , escorted all the way by my own nurse, saw a specialist, had scans, x rays blood ect, diagnosis made and treatment. cost..................nothing.

the concern here is the cost of medication, very expensive for something as simple as nexium. if you need regular medication it cost more than seeing any specialist or treatment. and i mean expensive.

The medication is very expensive,I was given medication at a hospital in the uk to be told that each tablet i was taking was worth 60 pounds,the consultantant kept telling me how much they were worth,and if i did,nt keep taking them to hand them back,made me feel quite guilty really, but he prescribed them

there you go, in bulgaria that mediction would be prohibative, too expensive and no one could afford that, thats whats wrong here, tablets soooooooooooooooo expensive. why......

For certain things Bulgaria is quite good, for long term treatment forget it i.e cancer treatment as an example, diagnosis is quick but treatment is very hit and miss, on the day of your chemo you have to arrive at 5am and wait to see if you get called, if you dont then you have to return the next day and again the same can happen. There is only the basic chemo no drugs to help with the side effects. You are only given so many treatments after that you have to apply to the government for more. Unless you are prepared to pay private for your treatment which is very expensive, your treatment in Bulgaria is going to be pretty unpleasent.

Fletch wrote:

For certain things Bulgaria is quite good, for long term treatment forget it i.e cancer treatment as an example, diagnosis is quick but treatment is very hit and miss, on the day of your chemo you have to arrive at 5am and wait to see if you get called, if you dont then you have to return the next day and again the same can happen. There is only the basic chemo no drugs to help with the side effects. You are only given so many treatments after that you have to apply to the government for more. Unless you are prepared to pay private for your treatment which is very expensive, your treatment in Bulgaria is going to be pretty unpleasent.

that is unbelievable fletch,so you turn up for your treatment,sit there feeling like s**&,and terrifed,and theres every possibility you could be sent home without it,sounds like russian roulette,when we bought our house, we found out the lady of the house was ill with cancer,and she had gone to turkey,leaving her husband here,we thought that was odd,but unfortanatly she didnt survive even though she got better treatment,but maybe her last days were pain free,i hope,

What both starlite and Fletch have said is possibly quite true

But it is also a fact that if the people that go back to the UK knowing that they are not entitled to treatment ( I know they may well have paid whilst they were there) will eventually get caught [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

But when we bought our property over here the things we now mention about health were part of our planning.

The cost of living here is cheaper in relation to Council Tax, Road Tax seasonal foods and the list goes on and on. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

But even in certain parts of the UK people who are under 60 have to pay for medication which for many things is less than if you could buy them over the counter. But to take Fletchs point some drugs are expensive or not available at all But you still here of the post code lottery in the UK. So maybe 6 of 1 half dozen of the other.

But living here is still personal choice

Yes you do sit there and wait it just terrible to see, if you look up the % of people that survive cancer in Bulgaria and its hard to find the true numbers is very very low. Regarding whether people go back to the UK for treatment I think you will find that this applies to a lot of people not just people that have moved to Bulgaria. Most of the Bulgarians that I know always go to Sofia for treatment also some hospitals in regions dont deal with certain things so it is a trip to another area. I cannot knock the NHS yes it has its flaws but it is still a great thing.

As we get older the number one worry for me here in Bulgaria is the medical treatment, along with quite a few other things.

Thought I would add this here from

[size=75:3q6txtuz]novinite 26 Feruary 2010

Bulgaria Ex-Minister Smeared in Cancer Medicine Scam

Dolores Arsenova, Bulgaria's former environment minister from the cabinet of Simeon Saxe-Coburg, has failed to clear up her name after allegations of a fraud with medicines for cancer patients.

“It is a lie that the company of my husband has siphoned off the state budget,” Arsenova told the morning broadcast of bTV channel on Friday.

The minister and her husband have been accused of buying Docetaxel, an anti-mitotic chemotherapy medication, at a price of a bit over EUR 150 in India and and selling it at three times higher prices to Bulgaria's health ministry.

The investigation, done for the first time by Trud daily three years ago, was resuscitated this week after Bulgaria's new government pledged to crack down on frauds in the tenders for medicines that the state organizes every year and bring the guilty to justice.

Teodora Zaharieva, a cancer patient, who is well known for her public initiatives in defense of cancer patients rights, claimed that the artificially inflated prices of the medicine have brought about the drastic shortage of medication for oncology diseases, which caused deterioration or death for some of the patients.

According to the accusation Arsenov's company benefited USD 980 per bottle of the life-saving medicine.

Dolores Arsenova refused to disclose the price at which the medicine was purchased in India, saying this is confidential information.

“Teodora Zaharieva was not at dying at that time. She is an advertising agent of this medicine and even threatened to lay down in front of the health ministry if the company of my husband is allowed to take part in the tender,”Arsenova said.

The former minister threw all the blame on the media, which, in her words, has installed wrong suggestions and have stained her name and that of her husband.

She agreed to come back to the studio at the end of next week and disclose the purchase price of the medicine if the company which sells it allow her to do so.

And another BIG problem is counterfiet drugs that are on the market

Thats a worry



Mike