Number of Doctors Leaving Bulgaria 'On Decline' - Ex-Min

The number of doctors leaving Bulgaria in search of better perspectives abroad has falled over the past two years, former Deputy Health Minister Vanyo Sharkov has said.

Patiens who earlier would travel to Turkey for treatment now choose hospitals in the country, the deputy minister, who left office earlier in January, has told the Bulgarian National Television.

More money allocated to specialized hospitals from the health fund, new equipment imported into Bulgaria, and clinical pathways that started in the last two years have added to improving Bulgarian healthcare, Sharkov has said.

His words follow alarming reports, circulated for years, showing Bulgarian doctors and medicine graduates are leaving the country for Western Europe.

They also come as Ilko Semerdzhiev, the interim health minister, mulls scrapping part of the healthcare reform initiated under his predecessor and Sharkov's boss, Petar Moskov.

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