Residents of Varna gathered in the courtyard of 'St. Anna' Hospital in Varna to support the doctors from the pediatric surgery department, who submitted a collective resignation. The department stops working from March 1st. An improvised protest also took place in front of the Ministry of Health in Sofia.
The mayor of Varna, Blagomir Kotsev, also came to the scene and announced that he supports the people as a citizen. The municipality is the majority owner, and therefore the only thing that can be done is to lobby the Minister of Health, he said.
The department stops working from March 1st. Doctors who have worked for more than 30 - 35 years, operated on, and saved both babies and children, not only from Varna, but also from the entire North-Eastern Bulgaria, will go to work in a private hospital in Burgas. Emergency cases of children from 0 to 18 years old will be taken over by the University Hospital 'Sveta Marina' in Varna.
“I am here to support Bulgarian doctors, Bulgarian families and their children, to have the right to decent pay for doctors, and parents to have adequate help from medical specialists on the territory of Varna and the region.” “So that we can show that there is a society that supports them, there is a society that is with them, and that they do not feel helpless and do not feel alone.”
The Association of General Practitioners comments that if the pediatric surgery department stops working, Varna will pay a very heavy price. Health Minister Silvi Kirilov appointed an audit, after receiving a report, a decision will be made on what the next steps will be.