[size=85:3m8u5ge1]novinite 18 May 2010

Bulgarians Forced to Raise Money for Treatment Abroad

The number of Bulgarians that have applied for outside sponsorship for treatment abroad has tripled, announced Tuesday the executive director of the Bulgarian Donorship Program, Krasimira Velichkova.

Velichkova pointed out that the Bulgarian Commission for Treatment Abroad persistently turns down applications by patients saying that Bulgaria offers the same quality of medical care as the one provided by foreign establishments.

Yet the Commission allows Bulgarian patients to apply for outside funding in order to cover their medical expenses abroad.

Velichkova cited a number of cases when patients have requested the Commission to pay for their medic care abroad, yet their request has been turned down but they have been advised to look for outside sponsorship.

Also, according to the executive director of the Bulgarian Donorship Program, the Commission does not meet the required deadline of one month to notify the patients about its decision and that many of the applications remain unprocessed.

In November, 2009, the Director of the Fund for the treatment of children abroad, Dr Nikolay Dobrev has resigned from his post Tuesday after a scandal regarding the failure of the fund to use BGN 25 M.

According information by the Bulgarian National Audit Office (NAO) the money given by the State over the last 3 years for treatment of children abroad (BGN 25 M) was not used.