OT 12:04:30 17-04-2014
MM1204OT.020
Bulgarian Cardiac Institute

ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE MEDIA IN EU

FROM: SPECIALISED HOSPITAL FOR ACTIVE

TREATMENT IN CARDIOLOGY VIDIN

AND

THE BULGARIAN CARDIAC INSTITUTE

 

Regarding: The Vidin phobias of the Ministry of Health and of the MP Mihail Mikov

            It is impossible for one to love the Bulgarian citizens residing in Vidin and the Vidin district and those of Montana and the Montana district totalling about 200,000 people and at the same time to bring to a stop the only modern cardiac hospital in Northwest Bulgaria for the last 4 months. Almost all of these people have a mandatory, by law, health insurance and they have formal, guaranteed access to lifesaving care which is essential in case of a heart attack and acute coronary syndrome. People who love Bulgaria do not behave this way and there is no phraseology or political games which might acquit the defence of a lost cause such as the debarring of a work-ready European hospital.

            On Saturday, 12 April 2014, MP Mikov, chairman of the National Assembly, accompanied Sergey Stanishev (PES Chairman) during his visit in Vidin and commented (before the media, for example Bulgarian Telegraphic Agency: (http://www.bta.bg/bg/c/KN/id/807424) the conflict inspired by the Ministry of Health (MoH) between the privately owned, newly constructed hospital for Specialized Active Treatment in Cardiology – Vidin (SBALK Vidin) and the state owned Multiprofile Hospital for Active Treatment Sv. Petka (MBAL Sv. Petka), by pointing out that the “problems” between the two hospitals are “highly politicized”.

            Answer/Truth: Obviously Mr. Mikov deems the protest meeting of patients, doctors and residents of Vidin, Montana and Sofia in front of the MoH, that took place on 9 April this year as “politization” and not as a civil action seeking to protect their deprived right of access to lifesaving specialized care for the most impoverished population in the EU. SBALK Vidin and the Bulgarian Cardiac Institute (BCI) were never politically involved and do not negotiate with political parties. The fact that Minister Andreeva hid during the protests and still continues to refuse a meeting with all the demonstrants and she also illegally creates conditions for refusal of a license by ordering to its subordinated MBAL Sv. Petka to revoke the contracts for monopole services is procured by the ruling party, which could only weigh the power of such a political boomerang. We don’t deal with politization and there are no “problems” between the hospitals – there is an illegal attempt to terminate the contracts by the impelled, newly appointed state director of Sv. Petka and an obstruction of the public-private partnership project to provide specialized cardiac care. It is something as “Catch the thief!” the thief yelled”. Responsibility for this outrage shall be sought. If Mr. Mikov feels that there is “a strong politization” it did not come out of the blue, neither could it be created by political parties but is a product of the radicalized social opinion in Vidin and in the entire country which strives to protect the distressed population in the North-western areas of the country. 

            Mr. Mikov claims: that as far as he is “aware of the case, the management of the hospital in Vidin is adamant against stealing for the purpose of developing the private business. Everybody has right to develop private business but not on the state’s account”.

            Answer/the Truth: The allegation is untenable and hostile – an absolute stupidity. As if the state has the right to rob the private investors! The state hospital has not given a penny, but it has received a donation of BGN 50,000 and it has accepted an investment of BGN 3,5 million for the reconstruction of its own abandoned kitchen block as well as modern equipment and it will receive, if SBALK Vidin functions, another BGN ¼ million annually for rents and other related activities. Mr. Mikov does not say who “steals” and he cannot say this because SBALK Vidin does not work and so far it only invests. This is not “money draining” but it is “money pouring” in the state hospital, including an increased expert attractiveness. Such camouflage blaming is in really a social and political blunder – to rebuff a realized, highly technological including export-oriented investment in the most unattractive region of the country; after touring China in begging for investments, is directly revealing. Free modern treatment with the methods of the invasive cardiology, including the participation of European training experts and free ambulance urgent service across in the towns and villages of the area do not correspond with the understanding of Mr. Mikov how and who “steals”.

            Mihail Mikov: “This argument entirely depends on the law and when there is a lack of correspondence in the terms, the problems can be solved not through a demonstration but through legal means.”

Answer/the Truth: The only competent authority to determine whether SBALK Vidin meets the “requirements” of the law is the regional unit of the MoH – Regional Health Inspection Vidin, which ruled on 20 December 2013 with a certificate of compliance and implementation of all legal prerequisites and reported to the MoH suggesting to issue a license to operate. Then the newly-appointed director, patronized by the MoH, unilaterally terminates the accompanying contracts for monopolistic activities and unlawfully “creates” conditions for non-compliance of SBALK Vidin. The mess in the management of the MoH is complete. The state hospital Sv. Petka continues to negotiate prices and conditions of the supposedly terminated contracts and thus withdraws their termination notices. The contracts for the supporting medical services with the state hospital were terminated by its management under pressure from the MoH and then "revived" under the pressure of the desire for life of the people with coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction, and the true interests of the state hospital Sv. Petka. The position of Mr. Mihov should be revised sharply because as a lawyer he should agree that one cannot derive rights from its own illegal behaviour. The state hospital Sv. Petka and the MoH also cannot deprive SBALK Vidin of the agreed and granted monopole services - hospital pharmacy, coroner and others - after wrongfully depriving of them with the sole purpose of blocking the issuance of the authorization. In fact SBALK Vidin has complied perfectly with the law by not founding its own hospital pharmacy, visual diagnostics, etc. – Medical Treatment Facilities Act (MTFA) (Article 9, paragraph 6) prohibits the development of competitive business in the territory of a state hospital. It is an indisputable fact that the two hospitals fully complement each other and can achieve great therapeutic, social and financial results, if the concluded contracts are respected and SBALK Vidin is permitted to operate - people from neighbouring Serbia and Romania will be signing and waiting to be examined and treated by French, Italian, Polish and Bulgarian cardiologists which otherwise could never happen.

The “case” in Vidin, as it is defined by Mr. Mihov, has a very strong, growing, public support for the urgent opening of the new hospital in cardiology. Thousands of signatures are collected and the subscription is open - with crushing proportions of increase. Cardiovascular patients are afraid for their lives and together with their relatives and friends resent the inactivity and the sabotage of the “paralyzed from above”, in the words of the state director Mrs. Dochkova, MoH. Every hour, every day is crucial for the people at risk and the mission of SBALK Vidin is irreplaceable. The Press conferences, signals to the European institutions and new open and spontaneous meetings of doctors, medical staff and patients from the region and Sofia will continue as long as the state functionaries deprive people of access to life-saving medical care. There is no room for politicization or a game of hide and seek because, to have any voters, living people must remain in Vidin and the Vidin region, and every day lost in retention of the authorization for medical activity literally means lost lives because of orchestrated campaign against SBALK Vidin by the MoH.

Mr. Mihov obviously supports the public-private partnership for building a tunnel under the peak Petrohan, but then why is he destroying the already built public-private partnership between the state and the private hospital in Vidin? They are both commercial companies and as such they work for profit, which is guaranteed with the signed contracts while completely realizing their humane, profiled in specialties, business. There is no room for intrigue and destructive allegations made in these relations, unless the goal is to change the private partner with someone “more appropriate”!

On 15 April after a 20-day delay, we received a letter from the RHI-Vidin, which refers to the illegal termination of the concomitant contracts by MBAL Sv. Petka and emphasizes that this is the main reason for the delay in issuing the license. The MoH orders RHI-Vidin to read, like the devil reads the Gospel, only the preliminary notices for termination of 1.02.2014. MBAL Sv. Petka withdraws these preliminary notices by a letter-offer of 26.02.2014 and the pending negotiations with SBALK Vidin (a letter of 27.02.2014). However, the MoH and RHI-Vidin are not the competent authorities to declare whether the notices are validly, legitimately or effectively made. The same applies to the subsequently withdrawn notices of termination of concomitant contracts for monopole activities. The faulty creation of formal prerequisites for implementing the requirements of Ordinance 46 is a grievous sin of the MoH and the director of the state hospital Sv. Petka. They gave themselves 14 days for correction.

As it is well-known, our mission is to provide accessible, free, advanced cardiac treatment for everyone. All reckless and unsubstantiated statements and allegations only show that today's political elite have no political will to change the sector with prudent reforms by promoting large-scale investments and achieving new added value to patients, because this way it only defends clique interests and its own ambitions.

 

Pressroom of the Bulgarian Cardiac Institute

Sofia, 15 April 2014               

(6 hospitals and 10 medical centres)  

/ММ/