site.btaParliament Chair Kiselova: State Should Care for Its Healthcare Professionals

Parliament Chair Nataliya Kiselova said on the occasion of World Health Day that the state should care for its healthcare professionals, as they provide round-the-clock, dedicated care for their patients, the National Assembly press service reported on Monday. She stated that more should be done to preserve the backbone of the country's healthcare.

On a visit to Sv. Ivan Rilski State Psychiatric Hospital in Novi Iskar, Western Bulgaria, Kiselova discussed the problems of psychiatric healthcare in Bulgaria and the hospital with its director, Dr Tsveteslava Galabova, and Deputy Director, Dr Lidiya Chorbanova.

Kiselova also visited the National Heart Hospital (NHH) in Sofia. The meeting was attended by Dr Krasimir Dzhinsov, head of the Hospital; Prof. Borislav Georgiev, head of the Hospital's Cardiology Clinic; Prof. Anna Kaneva, head of the Clinic of Paediatric Cardiology, and others.

Dzhinsov reported that while the NHH treats the most severe cases in the country, there is only one working surgery available to specialists. The hospital needs modern equipment to respond adequately to the needs of patients with severe pathology from across the country.

Kaneva and Kiselova discussed the grave problem with medical staff shortage, especially nurses, which has been the reason for heart operations on children at the country's only pediatric cardiology clinic to be performed on a cyclical basis for a year now.

Kiselova undertook to present in cooperation with health professionals initiatives that would point to solutions to alleviate the medical staff shortage.