Doctors From Private Hospitals Stage Protest in Bulgaria

Doctors from private hospitals in parts of Bulgaria staged a protest on Monday.

The doctors are protesting against the policies of the health ministry and the reforms proposed by Health Minister Petar Moskov.

The staff of private hospitals went to protest outside their health facilities between noon and 13 o'clock.

They demand the setting up of national health information system instead of the proposed fingerprint identificatiton at hospitals, pharmacies and polyclinics.

They are also opposed to the closure of health facilities as is foreseen by the national health map.

The protest is expected to spread gradually across the country and to encompass its entire territory.

The culmination is expected to be at the national protest organised by the doctors' union, which is scheduled to take place in front of the building of the Council of Ministers in Sofia on Wednesday.

The decision to stage a protest was taken on Saturday  by the Association of private hospitals, which has called on all health facilities to participate.

The doctors are also disgruntled with new rules on their contract with the National Health Insurance Fund (NZOK).

Last week, general practitioners (GPs) went out on protest, which spread gradually from region to region, in the end encompassing the entire territory of the country.

On Saturday, the GPs vowed to end their protest starting from Monday, but retained their readiness to stage new ones.

GPs were discontent with the policies and reforms proposed by the health ministry, in particular with the fact that only BGN 2 M out of the BGN 36 M foreseen for outside hospital healthcare will be allocated to them.

They also expressed opposition against the proposed introduction of fingerprint identification at health facilities.

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