Burgas ombudsman Todor Stamboliev has formally asked whether the Burgas transport medical board (TOLEK) has stopped work since 1 October 2026. He acted after residents complained that they are now being sent to Gorna Oryahovitsa.
The complaints come from people in Burgas and the region who need a specialist medical check to show they are fit to drive, including when they get or renew a driving licence. There is no official confirmation yet that the Burgas board has stopped work.
Stamboliev wrote to the director of the Tsar Boris III National Multiprofile Transport Hospital. He asks, if it is true, on what legal grounds and for what reasons the board stopped. He also asks whether the halt is temporary or permanent, and if temporary, for how long.
The ombudsman also asks whether people can pick another working TOLEK board themselves, wherever they live, or whether a board in another city has been assigned to Burgas and the region.
Stamboliev wants a written reply. He also wants to know what has been done, or is planned, so that people in Burgas, Burgas region and southeast Bulgaria can reach the check equally easily.
He says the check must first of all be truly within reach of people with disabilities, people who find it hard to move around, and sick people who need a specialist assessment. Long trips add to the burden on them and their families in money, physical strain and organisation, the ombudsman says.
"As the ombudsman of Burgas Municipality, I believe this service should be organised so that access to it is real, and not only guaranteed on paper," Stamboliev said.