The Minister of Health, Dr. Galya Kondeva, held a meeting with representatives of the "I Want a Baby" foundation regarding the funds for assisted reproduction. After that, she explained that 22 million leva have been voted in the budget of the Agency for Assisted Reproduction.
"We allocated another 500,000 leva from the reserve at their request. Currently, we have about 1.4 million leva in 6 working days. All requests for payments will be satisfied. By December 27, reported activities will be paid, there is a risk that funds will remain," she assured.
Kondeva also commented on the donor procedures. "We have decided to start working on donor egg procedures that are not funded by the assisted reproduction fund. An additional 3.5 million leva are planned for next year, making a total of 25 million leva", the minister added.
The chairman of the foundation, Maria Yaneva, revealed that there are couples who do not apply for in vitro procedures because they are not within the scope of funding. "Why should money be returned if there are those who need it? These patients pay for their procedures themselves, and the funds remain", she explained.
Yesterday, the non-governmental organization "I want a baby" raised the alarm that 2 million leva from the in vitro procedures fund had been redirected by the Council of Ministers to farmers. Dr. Kondeva stated that if necessary, these funds would be immediately provided by the government for assisted reproduction. "If we fail to spend them, we must return them to the central budget. That is why we have provided them, but if the need arises, we will immediately return them", the minister explained.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health specified that it had secured funds for all couples with reproductive problems who apply for funding and meet the criteria.
Political reactions were not long in coming. The chairman of "DPS-New Beginning" Delyan Peevski called for the Council of Ministers' decision to be reviewed. "We Continue the Change" also reacted sharply, and the leader of "Vazrazhdane" Kostadin Kostadinov requested a meeting with Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev and described the situation as treason.