30 Sep Takvor Boghossian: “Mama and I” Sofia is an undeniably necessary project in the interest of Bulgaria’s future
MEETING
with the Commercial League corporate group
‘Mom and I’ Sofia is undeniably a needed project in the interest of Bulgaria’s future
Dear Bulgarians,
Dear Bulgarian families,
The noble and sincere intention to build a children’s hospital in the capital stems from our care and aspiration to quickly implement a very modern project in the service of children and parents. We, in the big family of Commercial League, are also parents and believe in our possibilities! We are not and cannot be indifferent to the ongoing, decades long, agony and misery!
Bulgaria is the only country in the European Union that does not have a dedicated national children’s hospital. The demographic crisis is deepening.
According to the World Bank, the infant mortality rate in Bulgaria for 2020 (of children under 5) is one of the highest in the EU – 6 children per 1’000 births. The only countries with worse results are Romania (7) and Malta (7), with an EU average of 3.5. Many factors influence infant mortality: standard and lifestyle, quality of food, education and parental care, etc., but the most important are the quality and access to specialised modern medical care.
The history of the issue of building a national children’s hospital in Sofia – the scandals and retrograde forces now acting against our clean and honest project, are all well known and not worthy of attention! Despite the widespread public and political response, however, there has been no real progress on construction and implementation! Every year, the parents of thousands of sick Bulgarian children seek treatment abroad, and we raise funds for this purpose daily through charity campaigns.
Why are we willing to bear this huge responsibility?
Before we applied for the permit (registration No. LD-00-5/31.08.2022), the management of the group asked our more than 2’500 educated and highly qualified employees and their families – doctors, engineers, architects, biotechnologists, pharmacists and medical care professionals and a huge group of followers of modern development at home and abroad: how do they imagine good children’s healthcare and do they have the strength to implement the ‘Mom and I’ project in Sofia in a few years. We received tremendous support and encouragement, along with lots of valuable advice, suggestions and promises of free overtime if and when implementation begins.
Commercial League group of companies has been going strong for 31 years. We are secure and predictable. We have 25 years of experience in the design and construction of high-tech specialized medical facilities, medical research centers and GMP-certified pharmaceutical manufacturing complexes. Commercial League is a proven, major national healthcare investor that has never privatized anything: not one plant, not one pharmacy, not one hospital or teaching facility. Our Architecture and Construction Bureau ‘Helvetia’ has received a number of professional awards in Bulgaria. It has worked for huge hospital projects in China and Indonesia. The expertise achieved is unique in the country and recognized beyond the Balkans and in the EU as a leading competence in the design, construction and improvement of modern hospital buildings! It should, objectively, be a pride in Sofia and the Motherland.
The Bulgarian Cardiac Institute is recognized, at home and abroad, as an excellent manager of specialized and multi-profile, high-tech hospitals and a respected research center for leadership in modern medical practice and hospital care.
All our projects over the last 31 years have been transparent and growing in the public eye. (Bulgarian Cardiac Institute, Heart and Brain Pleven and Burgas, Tchaikapharma High Quality Medicines, ASB Helvetia, DallBogg: Life and Health).
What are we planning and expecting?
To build a hospital for Bulgarian children with 28 high-tech clinics and wards – all particularly important and useful for maternal and child healthcare.
The project envisages the construction of a completely new multi-storey building on a separate plot, designed specifically and solely for this purpose and function – to serve the children’s hospital only. ‘Mom and I’ in Sofia will, of course, admit and treat children and adolescents from all over the country, especially more severe cases for which adequate expert care cannot be found at the regional level. In an advanced collaboration, already established, with leading maternal and child health centres in Europe and the United States, this dream will become a reality in the next three years.
We must make it clear that the financial conditions for treatment in ‘Mom and I’ will be the same as in public hospitals. The treatment of all children will be paid for by the NHIF, in accordance with the provisions of Bulgarian legislation. There will be no additional payment by parents for the treatment of their children. We expect and will do our utmost to ensure that the doctors at ‘Mom and I’ are fully committed to quality in their diagnostic, treatment and research work.
Society’s response until now ?!?
Important news is that we have received the preliminary support for the project of 3 major political parties that will participate in the next parliament. And the attitude to children’s healthcare issues in this country is the most critical test of the willingness of politicians to manage and solve healthcare problems across the country.
Our corporate and personal responsibility:
The ‘Mom and I’ hospital initiative is our deeply felt national and social responsibility! We are sure that it will be received with genuine enthusiasm by the entire society. Private hospitals are licensed under the same legal system as all other government and municipal hospitals and more often than not are the engine of progress and development in medicine.
When Bulgaria is listed as the poorest country in all EU rankings and faces enormous political, social, financial, defense and technological challenges, it is the duty of Bulgarian entrepreneurs to invest in socially uncontroversial and urgent causes for the Motherland (Tihomir Kamenov announced in New York his intention to establish a foundation ‘Mom and I’).
Our goal is the best for our children, in our Homeland, now!
We are confident that this goal is achievable. Our 34 emergency medicine teams 7/24/365 (without government grants) and most importantly: the two and a half million patients of the Bulgarian Cardiac Institute and ‘Heart and Brain’ who trust us prove it.
Private hospitals in Bulgaria are Bulgarian hospitals – part of the national wealth. The private hospitals employ worthy Bulgarian doctors and medical staff, often trained and respected by the world’s leading experts. Bulgaria’s private hospitals are diagnosing and treating more and more Bulgarian patients who have freely and confidently chosen them and, most importantly, with high clinical outcomes and strong satisfaction.
Frankly speaking, this project does not cancel, but supports and shortens the time until the establishment of a state-run national children’s hospital: at least because there are a dozen more paediatric specialties that ‘Mom and I’ does not have the capacity to cover. Just as the state cannot achieve everything on its own, no private investor, still less, can meet all health needs. The state must enthusiastically accept our outstretched hand. There is a shortage of paediatricians and child health specialists in our country, and for this we have a strong advanced training programme for Bulgarian doctors in world-leading medical centres in Europe and the United States. We are ready to meet every doctor’s desire to work in modern conditions, to develop their knowledge, talent and skills. We always create a strong team, with technology “at our fingertips” and all the possibilities for accurate multidisciplinary solutions for the benefit of patients, now for the benefit of our children.
With the support of the community, Commercial League can realize our great common dream of a modern specialized children’s hospital in Sofia.
Takvor Boghossian
Chief Executive Officer
‘Commercial League – Global Pharma Center’
Media publications:
https://www.24chasa.bg/zdrave/article/12671321
https://darik.bg/mama-i-az-sofia-e-bezsporno-neobhodim-proekt-v-interes-na-badesteto-na-balgaria
https://www.flagman.bg/article/276522
https://darik.bg/mama-i-az-sofia-e-bezsporno-neobhodim-proekt-v-interes-na-badesteto-na-balgaria