site.btaChild Treatment Fund Director Resigns

Child Treatment Fund Director Resigns

Sofia, February 24 (BTA) - The Director of the Fund for Treatment of Children Abroad, Prof. Vladimir Pilosof, has resigned, said the Health Ministry Friday. The Ministry said that the resignation will be valid from March 6 to allow him time to hand-over his work to a successor but mentions nothing of a successor.

The Friday press reported that Prof. Pilosof was dismissed Thursday in the wake of a scandal over a kidney transplant. Nine-year-old Bairiam Ali was to have the transplant in Germany but the Health Ministry decided against it at the last minute. Following a strong reaction by the Fund's Public Council, it was decided that the child will be operated on in Germany.

On Thursday the Health Ministry neither confirmed nor denied Pilosof dismissal.

According to the Health Ministry, the decision of the Child Treatment Fund contravened its rules of organization and procedure, as well as the European regulations concerning the coordination of the social security systems. The said rules entrusts the Fund with facilitating organ transplants in the EU, the European Economic Area or Switzerland in cases when a transplant surgery cannot be performed in Bulgaria in a timely manner.

In the controversial kidney transplant, the Fund failed to consult at least two external experts in the respective area of medicine, the Ministry said.