Bulgarian Roma Besiege Hospital over Pregnant Woman’s Death

Bulgarian police units blockaded the entrance of the maternity ward of the Blagoevgrad hospital against a protesting crowd. Photo by BGNES

Several dozens of people from the Roma community rallied around the hospital in the Bulgarian city of Blagoevgrad demanding justice after a pregnant woman died there during an operation earlier on Tuesday.

The outraged people from Blagoevgrad and Petrich gathered after their relative, the 30-year-old Nedyalka Todorova, was admitted in the morning for the treatment of ectopic pregnancy, BGNES reported.

The surgery started in the early afternoon but the woman died on the operation table. Prior to the ectopic pregnancy, the woman had given birth three times, and had had six abortions.

Three police units guarded the spontaneous protest of the Roma who demanded prison sentences for the doctors who operated Todorova. The head of the Blagoevgrad Police Department, Hristo Velichkov, was on the spot in person, assuring them of an objective investigation. The crowd wanted to take the body of the young woman but the police prevented them as an autopsy is yet to be executed.

This is the second death in two months in the Blagoevgrad hospital involving the Roma community as a six-month old baby died there in the hands of the doctors in May. The protesters said they would come back tomorrow and left around 7:30 pm but the police units remained on the spot.

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