The National Assembly elected Kiril Ananiev as Minister of Healthcare. 121 MPs supported the nomination, 85 were against.

Former Deputy Minister of Finance Kiril Ananiev will head the Healthcare Ministry, taking over from Nikolay Petrov, who resigned from his position.

At the end of October, former Healthcare Minister Nikolay Petrov submitted his resignation, which was accepted by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

The healthcare sector has no colour, it is a cause for all of us to pursue, said new Minister of Healthcare Kiril Ananiev, after taking oath in Parliament. He promised that he would work with all political groups represented in Parliament, the civil society and professional organisations to improve the development of the healthcare sector.

Before accepting this office, I prepared a comprehensive action plan covering all issues related to the healthcare reform, said Kiril Ananiev and added that the plan drew upon and further developed the government priorities in his own vision.

He said that the rest of the debate in Parliament was purely political and put additional strain on the system: from the smallest hospital to the administrations of the Healthcare Ministry and the National Health Insurance Fund. My goal is to relieve the strain, create balance and peace, said Kiril Ananiev.

He said that one of the first measures would be to set up an advisory board of respected and experienced doctors, economists, specialists, to debate and plan ahead. Kiril Ananiev also intends to establish contact with the academic community. Why not set up a council of the former healthcare ministers in order to involve them in the debate, he said.

The new Minister said that the next steps involved talking with the professional organisations and signing the National Framework Agreement.