The paramedics and medical assistants fought for an independent professional organization

The abbreviated organisation of paramedics and their successors, the medical assistants, will now officially represent the profession of these medical professionals. This became possible after the Parliament yesterday approved the amendments to the Professional Organizations Act at second reading. They established the professional organisation ‘Bulgarian Union of Medical Assistants and Paramedics’ (BSLAF). After the promulgation of the amendments in the State Gazette, paramedics and medical assistants will have the same rights and obligations as medics who have long had their own professional associations.

Until now, paramedics and medical assistants were forced to be members of the Bulgarian Association of Health Care Professionals (BAHCP), which, according to them, penalized them in terms of representation. It is for this reason that they have for years insisted on the legal recognition of their own professional organization.

About 2,000 are paramedics and medical assistants in the country. The Thracian University is among the six higher education institutions in Bulgaria where the specialty ‘Medical Assistant’ is studied.    

Why it was so important to have an independent professional organization and what opportunities this gives, hear in the sound file from Alexander Alexandrov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Union of Medical Assistants and Paramedics.