Ex Bulgaria PM Stanishev Slams Govt Healthcare, Social Reforms

(R to L) Ex PM Stanishev, ex Labor Minister Maslarova, and ex Health Minister Zhelev slammed the Borisov government. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s former Prime Minister and leader of the Socialist Party, Sergey Stanishev, has slammed the healthcare actions of the Borisov government.

“This reform dooms one third of all Bulgarians to a lack of medical aid. The reason for the reform is the shortage of BGN 500 M for hospital aid,” Stanishev said during a seminar of the Bulgarian Socialist Party in the resort town of Hisarya.

He insisted that the Borisov government stop immediately its plans to shut down hospitals in sparsely populated areas. In his words, the Health Ministry would force many of those hospitals to go bankrupt by not signing contracts with them.

Stanishev said the reforms were being carried out on the grounds of a letter from the National Healthcare Fund, and that the Socialists were going to attack it before the Supreme Administrative Court. He urged every single hospital in the country to attack the decisions of the regional healthcare funds based on the letter in question.

Former Health Minister in the Stanishev government, Evgeniy Zhelev, said the reforms that are to be carried out by the Borisov government violated major constitutional rights of the Bulgarian people, including the accessibility, quality, and sufficiency of healthcare services.

He said the Socialists were going to come up with a draft law for “protected hospitals” that could not be closed down, and declared that in its four years the previous government provided BGN 500 M for healthcare investments.

“We have been watching a Turkish soap opera over the last week with Environment Minister Karadzhova, Finance Minister Djankov, and PM Borisov as the main characters,” Stanishev said regarding the revelations made by the current cabinet that the Stanishev team hid letters from the European Commission that threatened Bulgaria with infringement procedures in February 2009. (He referred to the recently rising popularity of Turkish soap operas in Bulgaria – editor’s note.)

The Socialists also insist that BGN 190 M instead of the currently allocated BGN 65 M be provided to fund the National Employment Plan.

“The government policies lead to a refusal of the state to fulfill its social policy commitments. Everything is dedicated to the achieving of a balanced budget. There is a lack of statehood and of strategic vision,” Sergey Stanishev said.

Former Labor Minister Emiliya Maslarova stated that the BSP was against the increasing of the retirement age for the period before 2012, and insisted that the cabinet should stimulate working retirees in the period until 2015.

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