Vanyo Sharkov

The number of doctors leaving Bulgaria in search of better perspectives abroad has falled over the past two years, former Deputy Health Minister Vanyo Sharkov has said.

Patiens who earlier would travel to Turkey for treatment now choose hospitals in the country, the deputy minister, who left office earlier in January, has told the Bulgarian National Television.

Salaries in the emergency healthcare sector will increase by 20% as of January 2015, according to Deputy Health Minister Vanyo Sharkov.

In a Tuesday interview for Nova TV he made clear that the aim was to introduce 20% pay hikes on an annual basis until a 100% increase is achieved in 2020.

Ambulances in Bulgaria will reach patients in 8-120 minutes, depending on the urgency of the case, according to a draft new emergency medical care standard published on the website of the Health Ministry.

Child mortality in Bulgaria is two times higher than that in the rest of the EU, said deputy Health Minister Vanyo Sharkov, quoting Eurostat data.

According to Sharkov, the data also shows that in Bulgaria twice as many people die from heart, ishemic and brain diseases.

Deputy Health Minister Vanyo Sharkov has pledged an increase in salaries at emergency care units in 2015.

In a Monday interview for the morning broadcast of the Bulgarian National Television, he emphasized that the authorities would strive for 20% annual increases over the next 5 years in order to boost the motivation of medical workers.

A patient hospitalised in Sofia with symptoms similar to those of Ebola hasn't been infected with the deadly virus, BNR TV station reported on Friday.

The patient, who had recently returned from Sierra Leone, was hospitalised with high body temperature and fever in Sofia's Military Hospital on Thursday. 

Bulgaria's Health Minister Petar Moskov has vowed to present a plan for reform in the sector by end-November.

Moskov, as cited by dnevnik.bg, made clear that the plan would highlight spheres in which the country was lagging behind other EU Member States, including the health of mothers and children, where the mortality rate was higher than the EU average.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov appointed a total of fifteen ministers on Tuesday, the government's press office says.

Names have been proposed by ministers themselves, with Borisov having only the final say, under the coalition agreement he struck as leader of conservative GERB with the Reformist Bloc (RB) last week.