Health policy

The Government's project on health programmes is just one step ahead in using the money correctly to the patients' benefit, according to the Save Romania Union (USR) party, which stated that every Romanian must have the right to choose his health insurer. "We believe that every Romanian should have the right to choose his health insurer.

Two scenarios for reform of the health insurance model were presented by Minister of Health, Kiril Ananiev, in a discussion on the future of health care, held in the National Palace of Culture obn 26th of September.

Sofia. Several models of change in the healthcare system are being discussed, one of them includes compulsory health insurance, Minister of Finance Vladislav Goranov told a press briefing at the Council of Ministers, Focus News Agency reports.

A local district government in the heart of Istanbul is using its thermal healing waters as veterinary therapy for injured, paralyzed and diseased stray animals.

The government has prepared a Plan B to enforce in the event that ongoing protest action by municipal garbage collectors continues with the possible use of a judicial order to force employees back to work, Kathimerini understands.

Doctors working in primary healthcare have until September 30 to decide whether they want to stay in private practice or work for the public health system, the Health Ministry has said.

This is the second time the ministry has warned doctors that their private practices will be shut down and they could face prosecution if they are also registered with the PEDY public health system. 

Over 3 billion euros of debts owed by state healthcare provider EOPYY to Greek public hospitals will be written off, following an amendment submitted in Parliament on Monday by the Health Ministry and aimed at putting the beleaguered organization's finances in order.

Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania and Latvia topped the list of number of amenable deaths in 2012, the EU's statistical body Eurostat has said.

According to the agency's latest publication, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands are the EU members which the lowest amenable mortality rates.

Bulgaria's health care system has the potential to considerably boost its performance while cutting out-of-pocket spending, the World Bank has said.

Anti-narcotic teams formed as part of the government's anti-drug action plan have captured a total of 610 dealers in 72 days since they were established last December.

A total of 202 operations were launched between Dec. 11, 2014, and Feb. 20 by the anti-drug units, meaning 8.4 people statistically were captured per day. Some 182 of the 610 people were arrested.