Construction Project for Bulgaria’s National Children’s Hospital to Be Restarted

The project to build the National Children’s Hospital will be restarted, with full responsibility for it to be assumed by the Ministry of Health. Health Minister Katya Ivkova announced this following the government meeting on July 29.

According to her, although the Health Investment Company was established back in 2020, no designer has been selected so far, no building permit has been issued and no children’s hospital has actually been built.

The minister said that work has also not begun on the procedure for preparing a comprehensive assessment of the operation of the healthcare facility. The relevant documents must be submitted to the Executive Agency "Medical Supervision" in accordance with the Law on Healthcare Facilities.

"So far, the team of the Health Investment Company has not worked on the other area related to the actual operation of the healthcare facility either. This is an area where work should have started long ago – namely, submitting documents to the Executive Agency 'Medical Supervision' for the preparation of a comprehensive assessment. As you know, this is a procedure under the Law on Healthcare Facilities. Clearly, this has not been done either," the health minister said.

Due to the national importance of the project, an interdepartmental council will be established, involving ministers from various institutions. Ivkova will chair the council.

"Changes will be introduced regarding the management of the project so that all decisions are coordinated with the Ministry of Health and discussed within this interdepartmental council," Ivkova said.

"The ultimate goal is to reach the construction of the children’s hospital as soon as possible," Ivkova said, adding that, in parallel, the necessary steps would be taken to prepare the healthcare facility for operation.