site.btaHealth Ministry to Introduce Biometric Patient Identification in Hospitals, Pharmacies

Health Ministry to Introduce Biometric Patient Identification in Hospitals, Pharmacies

Sofia, October 6 (BTA) - Health Minister Peter Moskov announced in Parliament on Tuesday that the Health Ministry is taking steps to introduce biometric identification for patients when admitted in hospital or purchasing drugs.

Moskov said that fingerprint identification will be done for verification purposes, recalling that all Bulgarian citizens have their fingerprints taken when taking an ID card.
The Minister said it made sense to link the databases of organizations in order to control public expenditures.

Also, Moskov said that the Ministry is working on a phone application which will inform patients about any medical insurance events in their name.

Reformist Bloc MP and member of the parliamentary healthcare committee Dimiter Shishkov told journalists in Parliament that biometric identification is not the way to control expenditures in healthcare. He recalled that there are now mechanisms to control the system but they are not enforced.

Shishkov said that the Reformist Bloc and GERB are divided on the finger identification issue as this will put a financial strain on the system.

Moskov said that the Ministry is working on a software application for mobile phones which will inform patients about any medical insurance events.