site.btaPoliticians Make Proposals for Handling Demographic Crisis, Improving Healthcare at 4th Powers Summit

Suggestions for tackling the demographic crisis and improving healthcare were made by politicians during the 4th Powers Summit here on Tuesday. The forum brings together representatives of the government, political forces and business to discuss the main challenges and opportunities for Bulgaria.

Suggestions for tackling the demographic crisis and improving healthcare were made by politicians during the 4th Powers Summit here on Tuesday. The forum brings together representatives of the government, political forces and business to discuss the main challenges and opportunities for Bulgaria.

Prof. Kostadin Angelov of GERB-UDF said that Bulgarians live on average six years less than the population in other European countries, and "our task should be to do everything necessary to give people a higher life expectancy." He said that if the projects under the Recovery and Resilience Plan were implemented, there would be added value for patients affected by stroke as well as those suffering from cancer. GERB-UDF propose to establish a screening and prevention centre. The aim of this centre would be early diagnosis in order to achieve more successful treatment, he specified. The GERD-UDF will work for the continuation of the national cervical cancer vaccination programme, and will insist that it should also allow boys to be vaccinated. 

On the staff shortage among healthcare professionals, Prof. Angelov said that his party would support the establishment of branches or colleges for their training.

Vasil Pandov of Continue the Change said that insufficient funds are earmarked for regular checkups and prevention in the draft budget of the National Health Insurance Fund for next year, as well as for cervical cancer prevention programmes, colon cancer screening and cervical cancer vaccines. According to him, if one makes a breakdown of the growth of funds for medical-diagnostic activities, one will see that it is by no more than 1%. According to Pandov, from 2022 in three consecutive budgets there was a clear focus on regular checkups and prevention in outpatient care. "The adoption of the National Health Strategy was a step forward, but we need to translate it into action," Pandov said, noting that there was a certain lack of predictability.

Atidzhe Aliyeva-Veli of MRF-New Beginning said that according to her formation, the solution to the demographic crisis requires a coordinated and complex approach, and ensuring quality and affordable healthcare is the main instrument. "We rely on the development of a National Health Map because we need to know where we are starting from and what we are aiming for, and our goal is child and maternal health, as well as municipal healthcare," she added. 

In her words, because of the depopulation of small settlements and the lack of access to healthcare, the reform becomes imperative. The big reform will be successful when there is a broad debate on how healthcare should look like, she said and wished an end to the cabinet strategies and a move towards real action.

Prof. Andrey Chorbanov of There Is Such a People said that there are two aspects to demography: migration and low birth rates, as well as people with reproductive problems and high mortality rates. According to him, chronic diseases are a serious factor in dealing with demographic problems. The national health strategy sounds great, but this one is wishful thinking, and in order not to be wishful thinking, a budget should be passed that focuses on pre-hospital care and prevention, he added. Chorbanov added that the budget for hospital care is usually very high.