site.btaSpending for Medicines Increases by 200 Per Cent in Past Years - Caretaker Health Minister

Spending for Medicines Increases by 200 Per Cent in Past Years - Caretaker Health Minister

Sofia, February 17 (BTA) - Spending for medicines increased by 200 per cent in the past several years while the gross domestic product grew by a little over three per cent, which is a disproportion, caretaker Health Minister Ilko Semerdjiev said during a discussion on brand name and generic medicines.

Dimiter Petrov, deputy head of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) said that hospitals in Bulgaria purchase medicines, consumables and equipment at prices close to the average European prices but are forced to make do with very limited resources. The resources in the system will increase if politicians in this country decide that more more financing should be allocated for solidarity healthcare, he said.

Stricter control is envisaged of payment of oncology medicines, an option is mulled for the NHIF to pay these directly to a trader, and not a hospital, Petrov said. Yet another idea is for the NHIF to pay for oncology treatment of a patient as a kilo/weight average. The model will not be applied to oncology treatment of children.