site.btaUPDATED Caretaker PM Glavchev Visits Prof. Ivan Mitev Children's Hospital

Caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev visited on Friday the Prof. Ivan Mitev Specialized Children's Hospital in Sofia to get acquainted with the urgent needs of the hospital. Earlier, the Prime Minister met with the Chairman of the public council for building national children's hospital, Prof. Ivan Litvinenko, who also heads the Hospital's pedeatric neurology clinic. 

Glavchev's visit came shortly after a controversial decision by his Cabinet to approve the construction of the private Mom and Me Multiprofile Hospital for Active Treatment in Sofia, which sparked backlash and was subsequently cancelled. The decision of April 30 is related to the intentions of investor Commercial League - Global Pharma Center to build a private hospital in order to carry out treatment activities in 39 medical specialties, in 30 clinics and wards, with a total of 413 beds, wards without beds and laboratories for diagnosis and treatment of people both 0 to 18 years old and over 18 years old. A day later, on May 1, caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev ordered the cancellation of the decision for the establishment of the private hospital. Glavchev even said later that he will submit a report to the State Agency for National Security and the Prosecution Office on the case of the Mom and Me Multiprofile Hospital for Active Treatment.

Approached to comment his meeting with Glavchev, Prof. Litvinenko said that the public council for the construction of the national children's hospital has not yet met with caretaker Health Minister Dr. Galya Kondeva. 

"He [Prime Minister Glavchev] was unaware of many things and wanted to know if we were really not informed about the case," said Prof. Litvinenko in response to a question what was the reason for Friday's meeting. According to him, apart from the fact that the public council he chairs had not met with Minister Kondeva, the two had discussed previous intentions of the same investor, Commercial League, to build a hospital in Sofia. "I told the Prime Minister that we were shocked, surprised, and that no one had asked our opinion. I drew his attention to the investor's request, which specified a number of children's specialties for the future private hospital, which could not be accommodated with 40 beds, as reported by the Ministry of Health," said Prof. Litvinenko. It is obvious that something is going wrong, he added.

A day earlier, Prof. Litvinenko raised the question about the need to purchase a scanner and an X-ray machine for the hospital. During Glavchev's visit to the hospital Friday, it became clear that the procedure for the purchase of a new X-ray has been completed and the one for a scanner is yet to be finalised.

On Tuesday, May 7, Prime Minister Glavchev will initiate a meeting with caretaker Health Minister Galya Kondeva, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lyudmila Petkova, Executive Director of the Prof. Ivan Mitev Hospital Dr. Blagomir Zdravkov and Prof. Ivan Litvinenko to discuss and find solutions to the most pressing problems of pediatrics.