Girls in the street, Bucharest, Romania, 2017. Flickr/J.Stimp. Some rights reserved.What can one say about a situation where institutions for treating sick children are put in place, but families have to desperately organize donation campaigns for the vast amounts of money needed for a life-saving treatment or vital equipment? In this situation, merciful citizens are those on whom the fate of ill children depend. How can a hospital work when 20 more nurses are needed to fill the work schedule? Last but not least, is it normal for a paediatric department to close when the only paediatrician there is on paid leave? All this happened in Romania last year.
The questions are too many, and in the meantime, children’s lives depend on their prompt response. However, there has been no response for years in a row against the backdrop of deteriorating child healthcare in Bulgaria. Similar problems are observed as in Romania, joined by Bulgaria at the bottom of the league table in terms of infant mortality in the EU.
A chaotic and unproductive series of reforms which began in 2000 has turned Bulgarian healthcare into a complex labyrinth that leads both hospitals and patients into a dead end. It was the year when the model of clinical pathways was introduced. Although it is a universal model applied in many countries, it does “not comply with international standards”, as stated by Journal of Public Health experts.
