Patients would take court action against the Bulgarian Doctors Union (BDU) over its failure to arrange on time the supplies of medicines for 2008, Vaska Subeva, ead of the health Protection confederation of 14 patient organisations, said on October 31, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

Subeva was to take the legal action because representatives of BDU were not attending the hearings of the committee, which negotiates and agrees at the end of each year for the next one on the supply of medicines paid by the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). The committee consisted of 20 members and seven of them were to be appointed by BDU, Subeva said.

The absence of these members was impeding the procedure for negotiating the quantities for next year, not only of medicines but also of other healthcare-related supplies and diet foods. At the end of the day, this was to have an impact on patients, who would not have the medicines they need on time, or would have to pay for the medicines despite being entitled to have them paid for by the NHIF.

The procedure was currently blocked at a very important stage, when the price offers of pharmaceutical producers and suppliers had to be opened for evaluation. The latter said they would not sue BDU but the lack of agreement was hindering the planning and the supply of medicines for the Bulgarian market.