60% of all hospital beds in the country are concentrated in 7 districts, while a serious shortage is reported in the rest.

This is shown by the National Map of the long-term needs of health services in Bulgaria, which was recently adopted by the caretaker government.

Data from the Ministry of Health show that by the end of 2021, 319 medical facilities for inpatient care were operating in our country, 115 of which were private.

The total number of hospital beds, including cancer, mental health, and venereal disease centers, is 54,491. In hospitals alone, the number of beds is over 52,000, and a year later their number was a thousand less.

The conclusions are that this availability is much greater than the needs of the population.

In 2021, 1,850,783 patients passed through our hospitals, which is 38,102 more than a year earlier.

Experts explain that this is mainly due to the COVID pandemic.

Expert: Five parallel epidemics are raging in the country

Overall, however, the analysis of the data shows that a total of 13,457 beds are redundant nationally, which is 25% of all open hospital beds by 2021. The largest surplus is in terms of active treatment and rehabilitation beds.

However, there is a significant shortage of beds for long-term care provided in hospital settings, as well as those for psychiatric care.

The specific data by area shows certain imbalances.

By the end of 2021, the most hospital beds per 1,000 people are in the regions of Pleven, Smolyan, Plovdiv and Ruse.

At the other extreme - with the fewest beds per 1,000 inhabitants, are the regions of Pernik, Yambol, Vidin and Dobrich.

Nearly 60% of the total number of hospital beds is mainly concentrated in 7 regions - Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas, Varna, Pleven, Stara Zagora and Pazardzhik.