Rumen Radev identifies the National Children's Hospital as a cabinet priority

The construction of the National Children’s Hospital will be among the leading priorities of the new government. This was stated by Prime Minister Rumen Radev at the beginning of the first cabinet meeting, held hours after the vote in the National Assembly.

The Prime Minister insisted that the process of construction and equipping of the medical facility be accelerated, emphasizing that the training of medical personnel must begin even before the hospital is completed.

“I expect an acceleration of the hospital’s construction and its equipment,” Radev stated, calling for an active search and preparation of specialists to begin in parallel with the construction activities.

As another main priority in healthcare, he pointed to the limitation of abuses within the National Health Insurance Fund.

“This shameful trade in medicines at the expense of sick people and their relatives can no longer exist,” the Prime Minister said.

Radev further stated that a “transformation of the Bulgarian healthcare model” is forthcoming, without providing specific details on what changes will be undertaken.

According to him, the set goals can only be achieved after a real assessment of the state of the public administration and the individual ministries. Therefore, he instructed the ministers to prepare a detailed analysis of the work within their departments within one week.

The audits must cover the financial status, the implementation of priorities, problematic contracts and public procurements, as well as the efficiency of the administration “both in terms of quantity and quality of work.”

Later, the government press office announced that 18 deputy ministers had been appointed by order of Prime Minister Rumen Radev. Galya Ivanova Alexandrova has been appointed Deputy Minister of Health.