Midwife Guilty of Baby Beating Has Worked 7 24-hour Shifts Monthly

Midwife Emilia Kovacheva charged with hurting the 4-day old baby in private hospital Sofiamed, has had seven 24-hour shifts every month, plus her regular 8-hour daily shifts. This is a direct violation to the Bulgarian labor code.

The statement was made by doctor Zlatitsa Petrova of the Executive agency ''Medical Audit'' in an interview for Nova television following investigation in the hospital.

''There should not be two consecutive 11-hour shifts, there needs to be a rest,'' was the opinion stated by doctor Petrova.

The investigation began on april 24, when the incident with baby Nicol was revealed. The baby was then immediately transferred to the neonathology department of another hospital in Sofia and there is no danger of permanent damage to the child.

The official report will be made public later on Thursday.

Meanwhile, investigators also established that the large portion of the medical personnel, including Emiliya Kovacheva herself, were not paid insurances by the hospital, as is required by law.

''We are covering three times more ground than US standards, for example,'' stated hospital Director doctor Ivan Kolachkov. ''We are doing unique things here. Comapred to the resources provided by the government, we have the best healthcare in Europe.''

''The midwife was working a lot for not too bad a remuneration,'' he added. '' She is a widow with two children. Do you know about her tragedy? Her elder daughter is an excellent student of pharmacy and has been invited to study in Denmark, so she was under the pressure of making enough money. We are firmly objecting to the statements made by the investigation.''

Asked the question ass to why only doctors were being insured by the hospital, Kolachkov replied that midwifes were working under their supervision, so only doctors really needed insurances. 

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