site.btaBulgarian Helsinki Committee Urges Tight Control on Nursing Homes and Criminalizing Inhumane Treatment

In the wake of disclosures about unlicensed nursing homes where residents were kept in inadequate or outright inhumane conditions, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) Tuesday called for tight control over residential services for the elderly and the introduction of a ban on inhumane and degrading treatment in the Penal Code.

In some of the facilities, the residents were subjected to humiliation, lack of care, and unlawful deprivation of liberty. "From the publicly known facts, it is clear that these illegally operating ‘homes’ were discovered by chance by the inspecting authorities, who were acting against the so-called property mafia. The impression is that the operation of such places, housing tens of elderly people, has gone unnoticed both by local mayors and by other individuals who could have spotted irregularities – doctors or notaries," the BHC notes.

Other facilities were operating with a license or were in the process of having their license revoked. 

"The data so far clearly indicates that oversight in the field of elderly care is lax – inspections carried out by the Executive Agency for Medical Supervision and the Agency for Social Assistance are either untimely, superficial and insufficient, or overly lenient," says the BHC.

Addressing such practices requires the state not only to exercise timely, sufficient, and effective oversight, but also to develop and invest in public policies for community-based care – a model that has been discussed in Bulgaria for decades, but whose practical implementation has been delayed and ineffective, according to the BHC.

Three unlicensed private social care facilities were uncovered in the areas around Varna during inspections between Monday and Tuesday. That followed shocking findings during earlier inspections in other parts of the country. Elderly people with their legs tied, heavily sedated, locked in rooms with horrifying conditions, without bed linen, with the window handles removed, and cut off from the outside world were found at two locations in the village of Yagoda, Stara Zagora Region, during a joint operation a few days ago. The residents were 75 men and women, aged between 51 and 86. Another unlicensed nursing home was raided last Sunday in the village of Govedartsi, Samokov Municipality.