Another Day of Protest in front of the Hospital in Vratsa

The protests in the hospital in the city of Vratsa, North-West Bulgaria, continue for eighth consecutive day. Members of the public and medical staff blocked the traffic on the boulevard outside the hospital building and demanded the health care facility be taken out from the fincial collapse, that wages be paid on a regular basis, and that patients should have the necessary medicines. At the end of last week, wages were paid for July, so for the time being the payment is delayed by a month.

At an extraordinary meeting on 9^th of October, the medical council of Vratsa Multi-Profile Hospital adopted a declaration stating that despite the crisis situation, the medics are at their work place, the necessary medicines and supplies for normal work are provided, and hospital admissions are not cancelled.

However, the lack of news from the health ministry brought a new dose of tension among the potesters.

Today’s protest included people from other places outside Vratsa. They said that medics from different hospitals in neighbouring towns should not be oposed and that the guilty party for the crisis in the hospital in Vratsa should be held accountable.

Victoria from the city of Montana said that all former managers and mayors of the city should be called and they should give an explanation why the hospital had suffered such great financial losses.

At a press conference, representatives of the BSP parliamentary committee on healthcare announced that the healthcare model in the country should be changed so that the district hospitals do not accumulate losses but receive adequate remuneration for the volume and quality of the medical services.