site.btaUPDATED Stanimir Mihaylov Elected National Health Insurance Fund Governor

The MPs elected a new governor of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) - Stanimir Mihailov. He was the only candidate for the post and his nomination was put forward by the parliamentary group of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB).

He was elected with 137 votes for, 46 against and no abstentions.

Margarita Gencheva from Vazrazhdane commented that during his hearing in the committee Mihaylov did not answer some of the questions and other parts of the answers were unconvincing. "In his presentation to the committee we heard nothing about reforms, how the severe problems in the system will be solved, such as the co-payment by patients, for example", Gencheva said.

Andrey Chorbanov from There Is Such a People (TISP) noted that the personality of the NHIF governor has always been of great public interest. The MP noted that they had asked a number of questions, as had their colleagues in the health committee, and were not at all satisfied with the answers.

"A lot of questions, a lot of accusations made here from the tribune, and all of them are beyond the substance of the question about the professional qualities of Stanimir Mihaylov", commented Rositsa Pandova-Yovkova from CC-DB. She noted that at a meeting of the Healthcare Committee the candidate for the governor of the NHIF was heard. "What happened surprised me in the context of the questions asked to him", she said. She said they were generally aimed at compromising his personality, while the substantive questions about the future management of the NHIF remained in the background.

In her words, Stanimir Mihaylov has a brilliant professional reputation in banking and has proven that he can manage funds. She said the series of attacks he had been subjected to and the speculation about him were aimed at undermining his authority. "The only aim is to completely discredit him as a professional and decent person", the MP said.

"In recent weeks, there have indeed been numerous publications directed against me with false allegations and manipulations", Mihaylov said. He explained that he had responded to all of them during the hearing in the health committee and afterwards in a special address to the media.