The 7th National Congress of the Bulgarian Medical Association (BMA) Adopted Priority Measures and Policies for the Healthcare System

Several key priorities united participants during the 7th National Congress of the BMA with international participation, titled “Healthcare Policies.”

The task of the professional organization is to advocate for professional and sustainable solutions, even when they do not meet with automatic public support. Participants in the forum aligned around this position. Dr. Ivan Madzharov, Vice President of the BMA, emphasized that the system relies on nearly 8,900 practices (medical practices, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities) and over 106,000 employees, and that funding must be linked to results, quality, and efficiency.

The BMA’s position is not one of opposition, but of partnership—offering professional solutions and expertise, and defending reasonable and realistic policies that the healthcare system can sustain and implement effectively.

The priority policies and measures around which over 300 congress participants united are:

1. Achieving European funding levels by developing a methodology and analysis for a gradual increase in healthcare spending as a share of GDP.

2. The Congress further recommends: payment should be for medical activities and outcomes rather than for structures. The NHIF should fund performed activities with measurable quality and proven health effects—in hospital, primary, and specialized outpatient medical care—instead of staffing positions and beds; introducing effective and timely control rather than just retrospective audits.

3. Delegates insisted on finding a balance between market incentives and social solidarity, so that competition leads to higher efficiency, and the public interest leads to guaranteed access and fairness.

4. Prevention and prophylaxis were identified as a priority to overcome the imbalance favoring expenditures on active treatment and medications—because a prevented illness brings the highest value to society; a natural continuation of this policy is post-acute care following the acute period of an illness—a specific and often neglected stage.

5. Additionally: Optimizing pharmaceutical policy through transparent procedures and incentives for best value. The NHIF must implement a genuine pro-generic policy in the interest of efficiency and cost-saving, while the patient should have the right to choose from the full range of manufactured medications.

6. Continuing the digitalization of the healthcare system to ensure better coordination, higher efficiency, and broader accessibility of medical services.

7. Introducing mandatory continuing medical education and creating a clear methodology and accreditation mechanisms for quality control and competency development.

8. Introducing effective policies and funding based on cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis for medical technologies, specifically medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic medical devices, to ensure timely access to them.

The 7th National Congress of the BMA with international participation, “Healthcare Policies,” concluded today (November 2, 2025) with a session dedicated to Donation and Transplants. Proven experts in the field participated, including Prof. Dr. Vasil Mihaylov, Dr. Sibila Marinova, Dr. Valentin Marinchev, Prof. Lyubomir Spasov, and the Executive Director of the Executive Agency “Medical Supervision,” Ms. Ivanka Dineva.

The 7th National Congress of the BMA is a platform that unites opinions, expertise, and a vision for the future of healthcare, placing the physician and the patient at the center. During the three days of the congress, scientific sessions were attended by the Ministers of Health and Electronic Governance, the Governor of the NHIF, members of parliament, the President of the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME), the President of FEMS, representatives of UEMS, the European Junior Doctors Association, and over 300 physicians, experts, and journalists.