site.btaGPs to Offer Free Prescriptions for COVID-19 Patients, Hospitals to Receive Additional Funding.

October 22 (BTA) - General Practitioners (GPs) will be
able to write up free prescriptions for patients with COVID-19,
and hospitals will receive additional funding. These were  the
decisions taken during a meeting of the Supervisory Board of the
 National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) on Friday. The decisions
come in effect on October 22, but the GPs will be ready from
Monday, Deputy Minister of Health and Chairman of the NHIF
Supervisory Board Alexander Zlatanov told reporters. The
decisions were voted unanimously, he added. According to him,
the prescriptions will be electronic. Such prescriptions can
also be written in the already functioning COVID zones. Zlatanov
 clarified that the prescriptions are for free medicines and are
 to be used by health insured patients.

By the end of the year, an average of 39 million leva per month
will be distributed to hospitals where patients with COVID-19
are treated, said NHIF manager Prof. Petko Salchev. According to
 him, the only condition is that the hospitals have at least 10
per cent of the occupied beds  determined by an order of the
director of the regional health inspection. Hospitals that do
not treat COVID-19 will receive up to 85 per cent of their
budget, added Prof. Salchev. The NHIF also envisages 51 million
leva to be used to pay for the "over-limit" activity performed
by the hospitals in 2017 and 2018, he added.

In response to a question about his resignation requested by
some medical colleges due to the non-transparent distribution of
 funds, Prof. Salchev said that it was not time to talk about
resignations now.

Next month, the amounts provided for frontline workers will be
1,200 leva per person and the money will be for work activities
performed in the month of October, said Prof. Salchev. At the
end of October, the funds frontline employees will receive will
be 1,000 leva per person, for work activities performed in
September.

 In the next 10-14 days the imposed additional anti-epidemic
measures will start yielding results, Zlatanov added. If the
current measures do not lead to a good result,  more significant
 ones will be taken, he added. RY/DT



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