Improving Health Care in Bulgaria

A young doctor from the tiny village of Dorkovo was completing his residency in Pleven, a medical university town in Bulgaria, when he heard of a World Bank-funded project that was to change his life.  Soon thereafter, Dr. Nikolay Belev decided to leave his academic work and move back to Dorkovo, together with his wife, to become the general practitioner and primary health care provider to the village’s 3,000 residents.

A $26 million Bank loan has assisted the Bulgarian government in its efforts to restructure the health sector, primarily targeting rural and underserved areas while seeking to improve Bulgaria’s health care efficiency and quality. 

The resulting project created incentives for physicians like Dr. Belev to open practices in rural and remote regions by providing training and state-of-the-art medical equipment.  As a result of the Bank’s assistance, some 1,070 general practitioners were trained and over 1,400 medical practices—vacant three years ago—have been filled and adequately equipped.  Out of Bulgaria’s 8.1 million citizens, over 1.5 million people living in rural and remote areas now have access to quality primary health care services.

An Emergency Medical Services system is now operating in each of the country’s 28 emergency centers.  The World Bank-supported project provided new equipment and ambulances, better communication systems and improved management, which resulted in a threefold decrease in mortality rates for emergency cases in 2001.  The national blood transfusion network now meets European standards for safety and quality.

 

Updated: September 2002