Nine Bulgarian Regions Join Protest of General Practitioners

The protest of general practitioners (GPs) is continuing to spread across Bulgaria, with nine more regions joining on Wednesday.

GPs from the nine regions who have been protesting since Tuesday will be joined by their colleagues from Burgas, Vidin, Dobrich, Pleven, Silistra, Sofia province, Stara Zagora, Targovishte and Haskovo as well as the town of Sandanski.

They are discontent with the policies and proposed reforms of Health Minister Petar Moskov.

A medical crew will remain on duty in each practice where a protest will be held in order to take care of patients in acute need of medical help.

GPs are protesting against the proposed introduction of fingerprint identification at hospitals, pharmacies and polyclinics.

They are also discontent that only BGN 2 M out of BGN 36 M foreseen for outside hospital healthcare will be allocated to them.

Last week, municipal and private hospitals expressed their support for GPs and called for protests against Moskov.

Also last week, the Bulgarian Doctors' Union withdrew its confidence in the health ministry and the managing board of the National Health Insurance Fund (NZOK).

The doctors' union agreed that the state of the healthcare has reached critical point of chaos and called for the start of protests.

GPs started their protests on Monday when they closed their surgeries in four regions, followed by their colleagues from five other regions on Tuesday.

The protests are to gradually encompass the entire territory of the country, with more regions expected to join on Thursday. Two-day protests are also planned to take place in Sofia.

The Sofia Doctors' Union called on all other regional unions and the management of the Doctors' Union to demand the resignation of Moskov.

The Doctors' Union will decide on Wednesday whether to officially demand the resignation of Moskov.

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