Healthcare professionals, assistant pharmacists and paramedics want rules for their professions

Representatives of several health professions, including nurses, midwives, rehabilitators, lab technicians, medical assistants and assistant pharmacists, announced on Tuesday clear rules and standards to work on. Their professional organizations say they have been neglected so far, but will now lead a "war" to regulate their professions.

Problems go back many years. For more than 15 years, we have been telling the government, the media and the public what will happen in our health system if no action is taken. We wrote a lot of protest statements, letters, contacted the institutions, which treated politely, but unfortunately to no avail. Of the 55,000 nurses in 1993, we now have 22,820 nurses. One in three nurses is of retirement age. One in four midwives is of retirement age. And in the next few years, a third of the sisters will be of retirement age. I think that there is no person who, with these numbers, cannot realize that Bulgarian healthcare is in collapse," said Milka Vasileva, chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Health Care Professionals (BAHCP), which brings together 35,000 nurses, midwives, lab technicians, rehabilitators, etc.

She pointed out that working in 2-3 or even 4 places, nurses, midwives and rehabilitators "save the system".

Vassileva announced that already 3 years ago BAPZG offered standards of health care with options for determining the number of nurses, midwives and other health care professionals according to the specifics of the work and the condition of the patients.

"We are fully aware that if these standards are respected, at least half of the hospitals should be gone," Vassileva said. But he added that at the same time, these standards are clearly justified: how the required number of staff has been calculated and this is in line with the international standards of health care and the Bulgarian traditions.

We also offer opportunities to appoint caregivers and health assistants in medical institutions to be trained according to the relevant rules and to assist nurses and work under their supervision. Thus, performing basic patient care, nurses will be relieved of these duties and will work on direct medical activity: performance of medical appointments, monitoring the condition of the patient, "Vassileva said.

This, in her words, will ease the work of the sisters and increase their motivation to stay in Bulgaria. Vassileva pointed out that now 65% of the graduating nurses do not remain in the healthcare system – some go abroad to work and others do not practice the profession after graduating.

Currently, the nurses' overwork is extremely severe, burnout syndrome has covered over 89% by workers and this leads to poor quality health care," Vassileva said. Therefore, the professional organization insists on standards that guarantee quality.

At the moment, many medical institutions still have not reached the minimum basic salary of BGN 1500 for a nurse, enshrined in the last collective agreement. Low pay also pushes young people away from the profession.

The three professional organisations – health care professionals, assistant pharmacists and medical assistants – complained about the lack of constructive dialogue with the institutions and the audibility of their problems, the decision-making about their work without them, the destruction of the professional authority of their professions.

In five years, 221 assistant pharmacists have left the sector. They leave the country and with a diploma in hand go to work in other countries, because they are valued there and from every point of view they see more sense to develop there. This is the real protest against the system, not those of the yellow pavers, which are also important," said Lilyana Petrova, the Bulgarian Association of Assistant Pharmacists (BAPF).

Assistant pharmacists and medical assistants (former paramedics) share the common feeling that society is deliberately setting itself up against their professions, denouncing them as dangerous and unnecessary.

Alexander Alexandrov from the Bulgarian Union of Medical Assistants and Paramedics (BSLAF) pointed out that in their person the state has hidden potential, which, if properly implemented, the future of our health system will be better. Currently, there are about 2,000 medical assistants and paramedics in the country.

However, they work in the absence of clear standards for the profession and rules of good medical practice. "Where standards exist, the functions and activities to be performed shall be clearly identified. When there are no such standards and our professions are neglected by the government, then we give the employer the opportunity to interpret. And now it happens that a doctor's assistant works as a nurse, which is illegal. This is not right, but it is allowed," Alexandrov said.

The three organizations issued an open letter with their requests, which was sent to the National Assembly, the President and the caretaker prime minister, expressing readiness to present them to a new cabinet, if any.

You can read the post in Mediapool.bg via the button below.

Mediapool.bg