site.btaHealth Ministry Delays Introduction of Fingerprint Identification in Outpatient Sector

Health Ministry Delays Introduction of  Fingerprint Identification in Outpatient Sector

Sofia, February 21 (BTA) - The Health Ministry announced Tuesday that it is delaying the introduction of fingerprint identification in the outpatient healthcare sector. The Ministry leadership has decided to start a legal procedure towards rescinding the introduction of the fingerprint identification system and postpone it for 2019.

The National Health Insurance Fund has figured out that setting in place the fingerprint identifiers in the outpatient sector, including pharmacies, will require the purchase of at least another 25,000 scanners and readers and this will cost over 25 million leva. More resources will be needed for the maintenance of the software, the Internet connection and others.

Hospitals have already paid over 4 million leva for fingerprint identification and the National Health Insurance Fund another 477,000 leva.

The Health Insurance Fund have declared that is absolutely incapable of providing any more resources, equipment or premises for the fingerprint identification system.

On March 16, a five-judge panel of the Supreme Administrative Court is due to consider a decision by a three-judge panel of the same court declaring null and void the legal grounds for the introduction of the fingerprint identification system.

The present Health Ministry leadership is of the opinion that it is a good idea to prepare a concept for a personal electronic health card containing a full or partial health record, that can be integrated with the standard identification document which will be phased in both in Bulgaria and in the EU from 2018.