Every third Bulgarian smokes daily, and every second is overweight. The data was reported by the Center for Legal Initiatives, which launched a new civil platform “Health Barometer”. She will monitor, analyze and evaluate the state, efficiency, sustainability and development of the healthcare system in Bulgaria.
Overweight, physical activity, alcohol and tobacco consumption, as well as how often Bulgarians go to see a doctor, what medicines they take are the health-related topics that the “Health Barometer” will monitor. It was organized by the dean of the Faculty of Law at Sofia University, Prof. Daniel Valchev. The purpose of the barometer is to analyze and evaluate health and the health system in our country. Health experts, lawyers and economists will participate in it.
1.1% of Bulgarians have never visited a doctor, which means that nearly 76 thousand have not been examined in their lifetime, and 4.4% have not been to a dentist, it is clear from the data presented.
According to a study by “Trend” from last year, Bulgarians most often do not go to the doctor because the examination, treatment and medicines are expensive. Another large part does not like the bad attitude towards the patient. However, in the last 5 years (from 2014 to 2019), access to health care has improved.
Every second patient in our country is examined by their personal physician on the same day.
and a quarter are accepted the next day, which is fast compared to other countries in the European Union. In many of them, you wait for weeks or even months.
Another negative trend is the use of antibiotics. Bulgaria ranks third in terms of antibiotic consumption in the EU, ahead of only Romania and Cyprus. In terms of the use of medicines in hospitals, Bulgarians are in second place in Europe. “The greater the use of antibiotics in society, the more uncontrolled it is and the higher the resistance,” commented Prof. Todor Kantarjiev.
Another worrying statistic is that half of the population is overweight. Although we are not among the leaders, over 53% of Bulgarians are overweight. These are around the average values for the EU, it became clear during the presentation of the “Health Barometer”. The first places are the Czech Republic with 58.8%, Croatia – with 63.8%, and Malta – with 64.5%.
