A forum entitled, Bulgarian Healthcare - Between Pending Reforms and the Challenges of the Crisis, is
held in Plovdiv under the auspices of President Georgi Purvanov.

It is within Purvanov's initiative for the development and public discussion of a national strategy, Bulgaria 2020.

Participating in the forum are representatives of government and municipal institutions, directors of health establishments and rectors of higher medical schools, sectoral and patient organizations, trade unions, non-governmental organizations and experts.

"At the end of the crisis we should have not increased the distance between us and the remaining EU member-states and we should even have shorten it," President Purvanov said in his welcoming address.

The experts said that, in the first place, it is necessary to take measures for the financial and logistic provision of healthcare so as to guarantee the stability of the system. This involves, among other things, an increase of the health insurance contribution from 8 to 12-14 per cent.

The participants in the discussion also dwelled on the privatization of the health establishments. In their opinion, if health establishments go private this would be done for commercial purposes and would not be to the benefit of the patients. The inadequate financing of the National Health Insurance Fund and the limited scope of the clinical paths also topped the agenda of the discussions.

It transpired at the debates that an initiative committee for the building of a general pediatric hospital has been set up.

Later in the day Purvanov voiced satisfaction with the discussion because, as he put it, he has heard many new things and the opinion of many people operating at different levels.

"We have obtained a full spectrum of opinions and the puzzle may be assembled."

Asked whether it is possible to implement the healthcare reform without consensus, Purvanov replied that he, himself, would work for [ensuring] consensus. The Head of State said that he is ready to back the ideas of the new Health Minister but, in his opinion, they are rather "schematic" so as to draw comments.