I'm lying to you, but it's true for me that in Bulgaria in the 21st century there are still hospitals that refuse to give information over the phone to patients' relatives.

I was convinced of this bitter truth first-hand at the "Rahila Angelova" hospital in Pernik.

I hasten to clarify that this is not the only public health institution that practices this vicious practice, which is in gross violation of the rights of patients and violates one of the most stringent provisions of the Health Act.

I will also remind you that in recent years, our budget money for health was increased approximately from BGN 800 million to BGN 6 billion. It is not bad, because there is nothing more important than human health.

However, it will be right to constantly ask: what and how has improved in the functioning of our health system?

Let me briefly tell you how fate sent me to the hospital in the former mining town, where my mother had to be taken urgently and with a referral recently.

What was my astonishment when I went there and asked the doctor on shift to at least tell me what was happening with mom, because it became clear that they would not let me see her.

The woman, who apparently for some reason had abandoned the Hippocratic Oath, rudely and unapologetically announced that information was given only on visiting days.

Timidly I asked if I could make a phone call because I don't live in that city.

They did not give any information over the phone.

Point.

I wasn't the only one cut by the woman in the white coat, and it wasn't personal.

There are hundreds of people in need of health care in this area who face this kind of attitude every day.

I'm even sure that this doesn't happen only in this region.

But this is hardly a consolation for anyone.

Because in the past years, dozens of health facilities in the country were closed, leaving only public hospitals accessible to most Bulgarians, where they are not treated respectfully, sometimes even humiliatingly.

My relatives and acquaintances had told me about similar cases before, but in the so-called health centers in the capital.

It turns out that they are not isolated exceptions, but a constant practice for some doctors and hospitals.

Especially during the corona crisis.

There are even more than one or two cases when relatives had contact with the sick, when they took them there and then when they called them to take their coffins!

I asked a well-known and respected doctor why it is done this way and is it not rude to the relatives of the patients who are worried and want to know what is happening.

He simply said: "That's right, we don't give information about the sick over the phone.

But people will get used to that."

I fell silent, disheartened by the lack of charity, by the indifference and cynicism.

From the fact that in our country, his "getting used" is always his mother.

I decided to ask for the opinion of a long-time doctor, respected specialist and leader in health care - Prof. Mladen Grigorov.

"In my opinion, people should be informed both in person and over the phone.

If so many colleagues are afraid that someone can present himself as close to a patient, but he is not, what is so scary about that?!

It is most important that people know the condition of the treated patients.

Doctors are morally obliged, apart from the law, to inform about the condition of the sick".

Yes, but no, as Petko Bocharov said not long ago.

And right now, a daughter who emigrated to Norway has urgently come and is waiting, crying and praying in front of the doors of a hospital where her father was operated on.

He was vaccinated with three doses, but infected during the operation with Covid/!/, but they don't let her see him, they don't give her information about how he is and imagine how this Bulgarian woman feels!?

Together, we can imagine, nay, dream, what the long-cherished and never-happening health care reform would be like!?

For now, it's just a dream.

And, let me not forget – when we asked about the possibility of using a private ambulance to pick up mom from the hospital, which looked like a wartime infirmary, we were kindly informed that the drivers were busy – they were going to a meeting in some nearby village...

reform

healthcare

hospitals