The municipality of Momchilgrad, Southern Bulgaria, close to the border with Greece, has decided to set aside a considerable portion of its revenues to keep the local hospital going, which caters for around 50,000 people in the town and the region. The medical establishment’s serious staff problems – something that is true of other parts of the country as well – may be on their way to being solved thanks to an initiative by the municipal officials to offer financial support to young people studying medicine or applying to study medicine. The young people will have the obligation to work at the local hospital after graduation.

There are 18 doctors currently employed at the Momchilgrad hospital, not enough to provide the population good medical care, says Mayor Akif Akif. “At a municipal council sitting discussing the financial report of the hospital, the idea was born to assist students of medicine financially. For the purpose we allocated an annual BGN 100,000 from our own revenues – property tax, patents etc.” Young people born and raised in the town who want to continue living here will be given precedence.

“Our only requirement is that they should work at the local hospital for no less than five years after graduating and specializing. Our idea was welcomed by the hospital administration which is prepared to provide good remuneration and, of course, higher pay for higher personal achievements. Students from other towns or other municipalities will be provided with accommodation. We are to meet with parents and with the students who want to live and work in Momchilgrad. That is the whole idea.”

It is so much better to have a doctor than to pour 100 meters of asphalt on any given street, Mayor Akif Akif says. A contract will be signed with the applicants to ensure that they will return to the town hospital.

“If we have three students this year whom we shall be assisting with scholarships and tuition fees, the sum will, of course, be under BGN 100,000 or around 50,000 EUR. Next year we may have more applicants. But, as a municipality, we decided to allocate BGN 100,000 a year because of the shortage of medical staff at our hospital.”

In far off villages, people can’t have an injection or a simple manipulation done. Actually, the current municipal administration of Momchilgrad literally rescued the hospital by taking out a loan to pay off a large part of its financial obligations; a project was implemented under which the building was overhauled and renovated. And this thanks to a charity campaign among the people living in Momchilgrad and the region.

This part of Bulgaria has not been spared by the processes taking place nationwide – unemployment and emigration. Many people here have gone to work in different European countries – Germany, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain…

“It is a normal thing to go and work abroad so as to help your family financially if you are out of a job here,” says Akif Akif. The trouble is that at least 30 percent of these people take their families with them. And so, the region is continually being depopulated.

English version: Milena Daynova