Is Bulgaria closing one of its hospitals because of the small debt of 90,000 BGN while at the same time continuously sending millions of aid to Ukraine? No, that's not true: The pulmonary hospital in Varna is not closed and is already operating normally after a short interruption caused by a power outage that lasted several days. This outage resulted in disruptions to the hospital's regular operations. The power outage occurred due to a build-up of debts and unpaid bills owed to energy companies.
The claim appeared in a video on TikTok (archived here) published by @user58155482769811 on June 22, 2023.
The Bulgarian text overlay, translated into English by Lead Stories, reads:
They are closing a Bulgarian hospital because of 90,000 BGN debts, but donate arms to Ukraine for 20 million BGN.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Jun 29 10:59:11 2023 UTC)
The news regarding the temporary disruption in the hospital's normal functioning dates back to December 15, 2022. However, a December 30, 2022 report in 'Novinite' stated that the hospital is now functioning again after receiving aid worth one million BGN from the Municipality of Varna.
In another case from 2010, a Pulmonary Hospital, located in the city of Sliven, was closed by order of the Minister of Health. The hospital was decided to be closed due to its failure to meet hygiene requirements, despite the recent renovation process.
In late 2022, after the temporary closure of the hospital in Varna was announced, there was a rise in similar posts containing related information. These posts started appearing and spreading in social media groups and conspiracy blogs. It's worth noting that shortly after the new Bulgarian Defense Minister, Todor Tagarev, publicly advocated for Bulgaria to send more significant military aid to Ukraine, posts with the same content reappeared. This shift in Bulgaria's stance, which had been previously constrained by pro-Russian parties, likely played a role in the resurgence of these posts.
