site.btaLabour and Social Policy Ministry Fully Ready to Support Ukrainian Refugees

Bulgaria's Ministry of Labour and Social Policy is fully prepared to provide support and assistance to the refugees from Ukraine, Labour and Social Policy Minister Georgi Gyokov said during an online meeting with Ukrainian Social Policy Minister Maryna Lazebna, Gyokov's Ministry said in a press release on Tuesday.

The conversation focused on protecting and providing humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian children. In this connection, the sides discussed the drafting of a bilateral Memorandum of Cooperation on the provision of social protection to children affected by military conflicts.

"Since the beginning of the military conflict in Ukraine, over 110,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Bulgaria, and some 55,000 of them remain in this country. Nearly one-third of them are children. The Bulgarian child protection institutions act to guarantee their rights and interests," Gyokov stressed.

He presented his Ministry's action plan for support to the Ukrainian nationals. "A coordination mecahnism for inter-institutional interaction has been set up to provide protection to unaccompanied minors. The family-care protection measures include educational assistance, psychological counselling and legal aid. The children and their parents are entitled to free social services which are financed by the State budget," the Social Policy Ministere told his counterpart. Children from Ukraine and their parents and close ones can get psychological support and consultations on the national helpline 116 111.

Lazebna thanked Bulgaria for the support and care provided to people fleeing the war. "Our most important task is to guarantee the rights of the children," she said, quoted in the press release.

In a related development, the National Assembly Committee on Health on Tuesday voted, 10-0 with 8 abstentions, to approve on first reading amendments to the Health Insurance Act, moved by the ruling coalition, which regulate the heath insurance and medical services for foreigners in Bulgaria who have been granted temporary protection. The Health Act and the Asylum and Refugees Act are to be amended accordingly. Under the revisions, persons enjoying temporary protection status are covered by mandatory health insurance at the National Health Insurance Fund. The amount and sources from which their health insurance contributions will be paid will be determined by an act of the Council of Ministers. The representatives of the opposition GERB-UDF and Movement for Rights and Freedoms criticized the bill as overdue and said they will abstain when it is put to the vote.