Health in Bulgaria
Bulgaria had the third highest mortality in Europe, at 708 per 100,000 population in 2015. The four European regions with the highest death rates from diseases of the circulatory system were all in Bulgaria.[1] In the early 2000s, the major natural causes of death were
Healthcare
As a former satellite of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria used to have their health system: the Semashko model. This particular system is characterized by having a state monopoly, where there is centralized planning and financing of the health sphere. There were no private structures for providing health services. There were no health insurances; the system was funded directly from the state budget, paid for maintenance, universally accessible, and free for patients.[4]
The subsequent health reform program has introduced mandatory employee health insurance through the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), which since 2000 has paid a gradually increasing portion of primary
In the early 2000s, the hospital system was reduced substantially to limit reliance on hospitals for routine care. Anticipated membership in the European Union (2007) was a major motivation for this trend. Between 2002 and 2003, the number of hospital beds was reduced by 56 percent to 24,300. However, the pace of reduction slowed in the early 2000s; in 2004 some 258 hospitals were in operation, compared with the estimated optimal number of 140. Between 2002 and 2004, health care expenditures in the national budget increased from 3.8 percent to 4.3 percent, with the NHIF accounting for more than 60 percent of annual expenditures.[2]
In the 1990s, the quality of medical research and training decreased seriously because of low funding. In the early 2000s, the emphasis of medical and paramedical training, which was conducted in five medical schools, was the preparation of primary-care personnel to overcome shortages resulting from the communist system's long-term emphasis on training specialists. Experts considered that Bulgaria had an adequate supply of doctors but a shortage of other medical personnel. In 2000 Bulgaria had 3.4 doctors, 3.9 nurses, and 0.5 midwives per 1,000 population.[2]
References
- ISBN 9781447313540.
- ^ a b c d Bulgaria country profile. Library of Congress Federal Research Division (October 2006). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Здраве1160 са болните от СПИН у нас, dnes.bg
- ^ "WHO/Europe | Home". www.who.int.
- ^ "Outcomes in EHCI 2015" (PDF). Health Consumer Powerhouse. 26 January 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2016.