Using emergency care in Bulgaria

Healthcare · Last reviewed: 2026-08-23

First distinction: emergency, urgent or ordinary

Entering the system through the wrong door slows you down and takes the place of someone whose case really is an emergency. The habit of going to the emergency room for everything does not work here: the emergency department is built for conditions that threaten life or organ function, and triage runs on that logic.

The 112 call: what to say and in what order

The 112 service is round the clock and free. When a call about a real incident comes in, the operator fills in an electronic card and the case is immediately routed to the relevant emergency service, including emergency medical care. Your job is therefore to let that card be filled in quickly and correctly. In a panic people describe their feelings first; what the operator needs is this, in this order:

1. 1

   Where — the address first

   City, district, street, number, block, entrance, floor, apartment. Out of town, the nearest visible landmark, a kilometre marker or the coordinates on your phone. The address is the most critical item: without it nothing else is usable.
2. 2

   What happened — in one sentence

   A man of fifty, chest pain, sweating, for twenty minutes. Not a story, a picture.
3. 3

   How many people and what ages

   In an accident, the number of casualties determines how many crews are sent.
4. 4

   Consciousness and breathing

   Is the person awake, do they answer you, are they breathing? If needed the operator will talk you through first aid; do not hang up.
5. 5

   Known conditions, medicines, allergies, pregnancy

   Diabetes, heart disease, blood thinners, allergies and pregnancy are direct treatment information for the crew.
6. 6

   A number to call back

   The crew may ring you en route. Keep the line free and do not let it go to voicemail.
7. 7

   Who will open the door

   Send someone to wait at the entrance, turn on the lights, shut the dog away, mention a small lift. A minute lost at the door is the patient's minute.

Who arrives: the emergency medical care centres

Emergency medical care centres are healthcare facilities in which medical specialists, supported by other staff, provide emergency care to sick and injured people at home, at the scene and during transport to a possible hospital admission. So the ambulance is not merely a vehicle; it is a unit that begins treatment on the way. The crew takes you not to the nearest hospital but to the one SUITED to your condition, which is why a request to be taken to a particular hospital cannot always be met — and the reason is medical.

What happens in the emergency department

Inside the emergency department the order is not arrival order but urgency order. If someone who came in after you is seen first, that is not unfairness, it is evidence that triage works. If your condition deteriorates while waiting, SAY SO — waiting quietly leaves the system with its first assessment of you.

• •Registration: an identity document and your identifier are requested. If your document is not with you, treatment does not stop for that, but registration is completed later.
• •Assessment: examination by a doctor, then tests and imaging if needed.
• •Decision: discharge, observation, admission, or referral to another facility.
• •Documents: always take a written document when you leave. It should record what was found, what was done, what medicine was given and what happens next.
• •Medicines: ask whether the prescription is electronic and how you are to have it dispensed.
• •Follow-up: come back if anything happens is not enough. Ask which symptom, within what time, and where.

If you are uninsured

In an emergency, care is given to the uninsured as well; that is not a favour but a statutory arrangement. But do not conflate two things: the delivery of emergency care is one matter, and how subsequent treatment is financed is another. Once the emergency is over and planned treatment begins, an uninsured person bears the cost. The practical consequence: you should not expect to be turned away in the emergency department, but admission and continuing treatment bring your insurance status into the conversation.

That is why staying uninsured looks cheap while you are healthy and turns out very expensive on the day you are not. Check your status today: [mandatory health insurance](/bilgi/bulgaristan-zorunlu-saglik-sigortasi-nzok) and [interrupted insurance rights](/bilgi/bulgaristan-saglik-sigortasi-kesintisi) explain both how to check and how to fix it.

If you are a tourist, EU card holder or under temporary protection

If you are insured in another EU country and temporarily in Bulgaria, the European Health Insurance Card entitles you to MEDICALLY NECESSARY care during your stay on the same terms as locally insured people. The card is not travel insurance and does not cover planned treatment. It is accepted by facilities that work with the public system; a private clinic is not obliged to accept it and may invoice you directly. See [using the European health card](/bilgi/bulgaristan-ehic-karti-kullanimi) for the detail.

For visitors with no Bulgarian insurance the right instrument is travel medical insurance. Before travelling, check whether the policy covers emergencies, ambulance transport and repatriation if required; the most frequently disputed clauses are the notification deadline and any prior-approval requirement.

Three extra notes: children, pregnancy, older people

• •Children: in infants, behaviour matters as much as temperature — if the baby will not feed, cannot be woken, has a rash that does not fade under pressure, or is breathing fast, do not wait. The immunisation record and the child's weight are valuable to the crew.
• •Pregnancy: bleeding, regular contractions, waters breaking, severe headache with visual disturbance, or reduced fetal movements are not things to wait out. Take your pregnancy record with you and say where you plan to give birth.
• •Older and chronically ill people: the medicine list saves lives. In a patient on anticoagulants that single fact changes the entire treatment. A medicine list pinned somewhere visible is the cheapest medical device there is.

Afterwards: documents, objections, follow-up

After an emergency, three things should remain in your hands: a written record of what was done, a payment receipt if you paid, and a description of the next step. Any claim, insurance file or complaint runs on those three alone. If you are unhappy with the treatment, use the internal complaint route and file in writing; if that leads nowhere, the medical supervision route is open. A dispute about an insurance payment is a different path, described in [private health insurance](/bilgi/bulgaristan-ozel-saglik-sigortasi).

Frequently asked questions

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