Emergency medical services in Bulgaria

Calling an ambulance

You can call an ambulance (a “lineyka”) on the single Europe-wide number 112, which should be dialled in any potentially dangerous situation, be it a fire, an attack by criminals or a sudden health problem. This is a free number that can be dialled even from a phone with a blocked SIM card or with no money in the account.
The 112 operators speak foreign languages, so not knowing Bulgarian will not be an obstacle to calling medics. After taking the call, the operator records the caller’s details and sends specialists to the scene (in the case of an ambulance call, a team of doctors).

Emergency departments are located in hospitals. You can get there under your own steam if for some reason that is preferable. In addition, private clinics have their own ambulance substations — in that case you call the vehicle by phoning the clinic directly. Such a private ambulance can be used, for example, to transport a patient from one hospital to another. The services of private ambulances are paid, and moreover such vehicles are often used not to provide medical care but only to transport patients, so they are not equipped with the necessary equipment. If the situation is urgent, it is better to call 112 and request a state ambulance.

Patient rights

By law, emergency medical care in Bulgaria is provided free of charge to everyone regardless of citizenship and of the right to stay in the country. It also does not matter whether the patient has insurance and whether they pay “здравни осигуровки”. This is stated unambiguously in the Health Act. Article 99 of the Act states that the state organises and finances the system for providing urgent medical care in emergency conditions, which include acute or sudden changes in the state of health that require immediate medical assistance. Emergency medical care is intended to prevent death, severe or irreversible morphological and functional damage to vital organs and systems, as well as complications in women in labour that threaten the life of the mother or the child.
Thus, any attempt to take money from a foreigner for the provision of emergency care would be unlawful.

When the danger to life has passed

Emergency medical care consists in preventing a fatal outcome and irreversible damage to vital organs. Thus, you cannot expect ambulance doctors to cure the illness – their task is only to relieve the acute condition. If any further treatment is required, it can be obtained in the usual way – through insurance (for tourists and foreigners with a long-term residence permit) or through the “Здравна каса” (for citizens of Bulgaria and holders of a permanent residence permit or EU long-term resident status).

After urgent medical care has been provided to the patient, the doctors will ask about insurance. Those who pay “здравни осигуровки” need only state their ЕГН in such a situation. Those who pay for insurance for foreigners must present their insurance policy.

You must notify the insurance company of the insured event as early as possible (within a maximum of three days) and obtain instructions on what to do next. If urgent care is needed, you should first call an ambulance, but then contact the insurer at the first opportunity. If this is not done, problems may arise with the reimbursement of expenses.

Insurance companies in Bulgaria offer clients two ways of working together.

In the first case it is enough to give the hospital staff the policy, and from then on the medical institution handles all negotiations with the insurance company without involving the patient. The patient pays nothing for treatment that is covered by the insurance.

In the second case the patient pays for the treatment themselves and then receives reimbursement from the insurance company after providing the necessary documents. Exactly which documents depends on the type of medical services provided. For example, to the company „ЗК Аксиом ЕАД (previous name МЕДИКО-21) for reimbursement of the cost of hospital treatment without surgery you must provide an application, a discharge summary, the original invoice with the cash receipt and a declaration of prior notification. If surgery was performed in the hospital, then in addition to the discharge summary, the application, the invoice and the declaration you must provide the operation protocol certified with the hospital’s stamp.
The insurance company may additionally request other documents.
The damage is reimbursed no later than 15 days from the moment all documents are submitted to the insurance company. Payments are usually made to a bank account, although „ЗК Аксиом ЕАД, for example, also provides for the payment of reimbursements of up to 50 leva in cash at the company’s head office.

Medicine in Bulgaria

Medical insurance in Bulgaria

Permanent residence permit / EU long-term resident status obtained. How do you get medical care now?