site.btaLabour Minister Gutsanov Orders Sweep of Illegal Nursing Homes

Checks of care homes for elderly people continued, with 16 inspections carried out the previous day, Minister of Labour and Social Policy Borislav Gutsanov said in Blagoevgrad, Southwestern Bulgaria on Thursday. 

Gutsanov, who is scheduled to launch the renovation of the Sveta Petka Nursing Home in the city, added that the authorities will pursue the process to the end and will not allow a single illegal institution of this kind to remain.

Gutsanov pointed out that further action was required. He explained that Bulgaria currently has 82 care homes, excluding private ones. Renovations are under way at 81 facilities, with funding amounting to BGN 381 million under the Plan for Recovery and Resilience. The ministry does not organize the tenders and competitions for the projects but provides the funds to municipalities, as mayors are best placed to supervise local renovation work, Gutsanov said.

He added that a meeting with the National Association of Municipalities is scheduled for next week to identify which existing municipal sites, though unused, could be brought into service as care homes. He said the next step would be to secure the necessary personnel.

Together with Minister of Justice Georgi Georgiev, Gutsanov is preparing legislative amendments, which will be submitted to the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly.

Gutsanov described as justified the proposal by the National Health Insurance Fund for relatives of residents in social care homes to be granted access to their family members’ medical records. He expressed hope that the inspections he and Georgiev had initiated would make relatives more interested in the welfare and circumstances of elderly people living in such institutions. The issues uncovered during these checks, he added, also raise profound moral questions.

The Stara Zagora Regional Court upheld the most severe pre-trial detention for 62-year-old V. Zh., identified as the owner of the two illegal residences on Wednesday. The court also ordered that D.A., employed as a nurse, remain in custody.

Three unlicensed private social care facilities were uncovered in the areas around Varna during inspections earlier in June. That followed shocking findings during earlier inspections in other parts of the country. Elderly people with their legs tied, heavily sedated, locked in rooms with horrifying conditions, without bed linen, with the window handles removed, and cut off from the outside world were found at two locations in the village of Yagoda, Stara Zagora Region, during a joint operation. The residents were 75 men and women, aged between 51 and 86.