We are pleased to share that the information regarding the “Health Investment Company for a Children’s Hospital” JSC, responsible for the construction of the National Children’s Hospital, and the European Investment Bank signing a technical assistance agreement has been publicly announced. This agreement includes an analysis of the pediatric care needs in Bulgaria. The objective is to gather objective data that will serve as a basis for determining the structure, scope, and functionality of the National Children’s Hospital.
The paper stack of documentation containing data about the National Children’s Hospital, which we prepared at the request of the Ministry of Health, was ten centimeters high. This was done to reconstruct the history of the actions taken towards the establishment of the facility.
Our efforts have paid off! Today’s step is a significant victory and a step forward in building a real National Children’s Hospital. We congratulate the Ministry of Health for this milestone.
In a letter sent to the National Children’s Network, the Ministry of Health confirms that the analysis takes into account the proposals we submitted at the beginning of 2022, and they will be part of the analysis structure. In the same letter, the Ministry of Health confirms that they are also working on another proposal we made, which is to create a schedule plan for organizing the activities related to the hospital’s construction.
The next step, for which we continue to insist, is the creation of a Public Council that ensures transparency and public accountability, as well as monitoring the progress of the construction independently of the political dynamics in the country. We have been fighting this battle for over five years, and we will continue to fight it together with the National Civil Initiative “For a Real Children’s Hospital,” the Bulgarian Pediatric Association, non-governmental organizations, doctors, and activists.
We will continue to monitor and support every step towards finally having a real National Children’s Hospital in Bulgaria. The need for it is evident every day.
We would like to remind that so far, we have donated dozens of hours of voluntary work to the Ministry of Health, including the creation of Guidelines for conducting a comprehensive analysis of child healthcare, developed through the voluntary efforts of doctors, representatives of university faculties of public health, lawyers, architects, infrastructure specialists, and others. We have provided a complete package of documents tracing the processes involved in the creation of the National Children’s Hospital from 2019 until now, and last but not least, a detailed proposal and regulations for the activities of the Public Council of the National Children’s Hospital. We have valuable expert and civic resources that we are ready to contribute to the upcoming analysis of pediatric care needs in Bulgaria, which will be instrumental in determining the structure, scope, and functionality of the National Children’s Hospital.
Picture: pixabay.com
