[size=55:2qw1ha6v]Dnevnik
Scandinavian Tourists Ripped Off for Medical Aid in Bulgaria
The Regional Prosecutor's Office in Bulgaria's Varna is about to launch a pre-court procedure over abuses with medical services for foreign tourists along the Black Sea coast.
The Prosecutor's Office spokesperson Vyara Aleksieva has told the Dnevnik daily that the institution has completed a probe over the alleged abuses which boil down to demanding additional charges from tourists, primarily from Scandinavian countries, for medical aid included in their insurance packages.
The Varna Prosecutor's Office was alerted about the violations by the Bulgarian Embassy in Copenhagen after a number of articles in the press in Denmark indicated that Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian tourists have been overcharged by Bulgarian doctors during their vacation.
The articles are based on data provided by Scandinavian insurance companies about a number of trials in Norway and Sweden connected with an intermediary representing a group of Bulgarian doctors before foreign insurers known as Global Assistance Bulgaria.
Data from SOS International, an insurer, have indicated that one in four Danish tourists who got medical aid in Bulgarian resorts, or about 1 100 people, have been the victim of violations by doctors assigning "
over-treatment"
at tremendous prices.
Global Assistance itself has refuted the accusations. The intermediary claims that the insurers of the Scandinavian tourists have staged a campaign to pressure it into lowering the prices of medical services it offers in Bulgaria.
The company has already been inspected and found by the Bulgarian authorities for offering pharmaceuticals that only drug stores are authorized to offer.
Tourists Fall Prey to Doctors' Shocking Cynicism, Ripoffs in Bulgaria
Bulgaria's Black Sea resorts are plagued with cynical doctors whose sole purpose is to rip off the foreign tourists with excessive prices and fake diagnoses, according to a report.
A foreign tourist's treatment of a simple cold could cost EUR 240, the Standart daily writes, citing a health inspector.
"
We have already detected cases in which the doctors have replaced the real diagnoses with fake once just so that can rip off the patients,"
the unnamed inspector is quoted as saying.
The doctors in the Bulgarian resorts are focusing on receiving two or three times higher sums from the international patients' insurers, including when it comes to treating children in summer camps, the report says.
In one of the Bulgarian resorts, doctors are known to be using the phrase "
I have EUR 100 coming my way"
when a foreign tourist is seen arriving for a medical examination, according to tour operators from the Burgas area in the south.
In the northern resorts, doctors charge at least EUR 150 for an examination that otherwise costs BGN 15-20, or 20 times less, in a private medical practice in Varna. Doctors in the resorts are reported to be refusing medical aid to Bulgarians simply because the latter do not meet their "
revenue criteria."
The typical explanation of the doctors for their ripoff prices is the high rent they pay to hotel owners for their offices.
Earlier this week, the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Bulgaria's Varna prepared to launch a pre-court procedure over abuses with medical services for foreign tourists along the Black Sea coast.
The Prosecutor's Office spokesperson Vyara Aleksieva told the Dnevnik daily that the institution had completed a probe over the alleged abuses which boil down to demanding additional charges from tourists, primarily from Scandinavian countries, for medical aid included in their insurance packages.
Sat Jul 16, 2011 3:22 pm
