One in ten Bulgarians have no access to medical care, 40% cannot afford it.
The Bulgarian health system only covers 55% of the cost of medical services which leaves medical care out of the reach of many Bulgarians living in poverty.
Children’s health
Due to the poor healthcare available in Bulgaria, many parents with disabled children are left little choice but to put them in institutions. Sofia Baptist Church wants to help change this by providing affordable care and support.
What are we doing to help?
The church has responded to this need in the past by running dental, eye and health clinics using visiting clinicians and professionals from within their congregation.
Moving forward however, the vision is to provide ongoing care in the new medical centre at a nominal charge to those who otherwise would not receive it.
The services offered in the new medical centre will be co-ordinated by Dr. Antoaneta Todorova (known as Toany) a redoubtable lady who has already established a medical centre elsewhere and has become known for her robust, no-nonsense medical care of the children on the Church’s summer camps in the mountains. Together with a medical professor and two other medical specialists, Toany is working out what services are most needed by vulnerable folk who live near the Centre, what can be fitted into the available space, and how to make it pay so that the poorest can be treated free.
Dr Mark Corcoran (Trustee) and Dr Antoaneta Todorova in conversation
Options include dental, contraception and sexual health services, and medical care for the homeless. Discussions inevitably widen into the need for associated services such as nutrition, parenting, debt-management, legal advice and housing which the Centre also hopes to develop