site.btaProtesters Demand Emergency Hospital Director's Resignation, Immediate Healthcare Reforms

Protesters gathered in front of the Council of Ministers building on Wednesday to demand that the director of Sofia's Pirogov Emergency Hospital resign until the completion of all checks at the hospital related to the death of 15-year-old Danaya Kuleva in 2023. The protesters, including representatives of the Danaya Foundation, also claimed there had been violations in the hospital's management and medical activities and demanded immediate reforms in pediatric healthcare.

A protest with those demands was held on February 16.

Danaya's mother Ani Stoyanova told reporters: "Our demands are the same as last time, above all we want Dr Dimitrov to resign. It is high time he quit." She said there were numerous problems and urged that responsibility be taken for all violations related to the Danaya case and other medical activities. She said that so far no one had contacted her and expressed a hope that Dr Maya Argirova, Chairperson of the Central Commission for Professional Ethics of the Bulgarian Medical Association, would take a stand on the matter.

Stoyanova said the protests would continue: "We have no deadline, we will not give up. Once a month we will be here."

The protesters demand a complete revision of the existing standards by specialty and a commitment to update them immediately and to draw up any missing standards. They call for an end to the practice of deliberately drafting poor quality standards which are revoked on appeal in court.

They also demand the introduction of a mechanism for publicity, transparency and public control of the procedures for the election of hospital management. They want a comprehensive review of developments in the sector and a commitment to create a healthcare reform programme which puts the patient at the centre, with treatment based on quality rather than quantity and administrative formalism.

Protesters released white balloons in memory of Danaya.

On February 12, a newly established organization, Danaya for Life, called for urgent reforms in child healthcare and put out a petition with six demands.

A couple of days later, the Sofia City Prosecution Office announced that pre-trial proceedings had been initiated into the Danaya case. Prosecutors are investigating the period between April 28 and May 9, 2023, when the girl's death occurred.