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.

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