The hospitals expect the cancellation of the decision to reduce the hospital stay fee, since the state will not solve any of the problems in healthcare with such a move. Hospital associations unite around this opinion in a position sent to Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov and Minister of Health Assoc. Prof. Dr. Silvi Kirilov. The decision to reduce the fee was taken at the last meeting of the Council of Ministers before the holidays and adopted in an extraordinary issue of the State Gazette.
The Bulgarian Hospital Association, the National Association of Private Hospitals in Bulgaria, the National Association of Regional Multi-profile Hospitals for Active Treatment and the Association of Municipal Hospitals in Bulgaria insist on a reassessment of the decision taken, as well as on the introduction of mechanisms for real dialogue with participants in the healthcare system when adopting future policies, especially those with a direct impact on the sustainability of healthcare facilities and patients' access to quality medical care.
The healthcare facilities are categorically against the decision to reduce the consumer fee for hospital care from 5.80 BGN to 1 BGN, as well as the way in which this change was introduced – without the necessary public discussion and consultation with stakeholders.
“The reduction in the user fee, we understand from media publications that it is presented as a measure to improve access to healthcare, but in reality it does not solve the structural problems in the system and hides a number of serious risks“, is also stated in the position of the hospital associations. They are categorical that the lack of transparency on how and why this decision was made without assessing its potential effect undermines trust in the decision-making process.
Representatives of the medical institutions explain that the user fee, although symbolic for some patients, is a source of income for the medical institutions, with particular importance for remote regions.
“The income from the fees supports the daily activities and functioning of the medical institutions. The reduction will deepen the financial deficit and worsen the quality of services“, the letter also says.
At the same time, according to hospital associations, the major barriers to access to healthcare are the lack of medical staff, poor territorial provision of services and the ongoing migration of doctors. They point out that reducing the fee does not address any of these problems, on the contrary - this solution is not adequate to the real problems related to access to quality medical care.
The letter to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health emphasizes that vulnerable groups (pensioners, children, chronically ill people, etc.) are currently exempt from the current fee of 5.80 leva, which is actually related to providing a social element to support access to hospital care.