“Let me explain, once again, we are not talking about a moratorium, it is a temporary one-year measure aimed at stabilizing the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) – but that does not mean we shall not provide treatment to all Bulgarian citizens,” said, in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio’s Sunday 150 programme, Health Minister Kiril Ananiev, commenting on the restriction imposed on NHIF funding for innovative medicines molecules. He added that the state will cover the financing of therapies for which there is no alternative, with a Health Ministry commission assessing each case:

“If there are oncology cases for which there is no alternative treatment using a medicine which is reimbursed from the NHIF budget, then the Ministry of Health will cover the payment for the medication. For the purpose we shall set up a specialized commission under the office of the health minister, which will include leading specialists, depending on the case in question. This is a special regime for determining the treatment and prescribing new medicines until they have proved their efficiency and therapeutic result. The cost of the new molecules and new medication will not be covered by the NHIF budget, the treatment will be ensured by the state, via the budget of the Health Ministry,” Minister Ananiev said and added:

“We must not continue to use the term “moratorium”, seeing as we have created the organization necessary for the treatment of citizens… There are 32 new molecules. For 28 of them there is treatment already, at a very high European standard, and there are medicines. We are talking here about 4 molecules which will have to be financed by the budget of the Health Ministry, about the medicines from these 4 molecules.”

If the treatment for the other 28 molecules does not prove to be efficient and the commission’s assessment is that funding can be provided from the budget for the new molecules, then these cases will also be assessed by this specialized commission, Kiril Ananiev said.

“This specialized commission will prove the efficiency of the treatment and the medicine, the therapeutic result, and when it has been proved, it will be included in the National Health Insurance Fund’s reimbursement list.”

Ananiev described yesterday’s decision to reconsider the moratorium on medicines for serious and rare diseases as “an improvement in the medical treatment of citizens”. The health minister will personally select the members and will supervise the work of the commission which will assess the efficiency of every medicine in each individual case. Minister Kiril Ananiev assumed the commitment not to allow any delay in procedures:

“I guarantee that the procedure shall be expeditious. We shall, under no circumstances, delay the commission’s decision. I myself shall supervise this process and shall be guarantor with regard to patients in Bulgaria.”

Hospitals in debt will not be closed down in the process of the planned restructuring of predominantly state-owned medical establishments, Minister Ananiev said further. In his words, after conducting inspections, the ministry made an analysis for each municipal hospital, and specific normative amendments and restructuring measures will be coordinated at a meeting with the mayors and the Association of Municipalities on Friday.

“The idea is not to close hospitals down, but to see them really function effectively. My team and I started inspections at all state-run hospitals – with 50 or over 50 percent ownership. We analyzed the financial state they are in, their management and we have a concrete restructuring proposal for each one of them. As to municipal hospitals, we can assist this process, advise the mayor or the municipal council what steps are appropriate, but the decision is theirs to make, as they are the owners. We are starting with the hospital in Lovech tomorrow, and we shall make public the results of the inspection of Pirogov emergency hospital in Sofia,” Minister Ananiev said.