The Ministry of Health has been convicted of concealing information
The journalist Nadezhda Ceculova and the Medical Law Law Maria Sharkova won a case against the health ministry to conceal information. The decision of the Administrative Court – Sofia is final and is not subject to appeal. It is in connection with the refusal of the agency to provide them with data related to the former director of the Health Investment Company for Children’s Hospital (ZIKDB) Nikolay Borisov, including reasons for his appointment and his professional biography. The court’s decision states that within 7 days of the announcement of the decision, the Ministry of Health should provide full access to the requested information.
ZIKDB is the company that aims to carry out all activities allowed by law related to the organization and control of the construction and commissioning of the National Children’s Hospital, which has been waiting for years. And not one or two directors of the company were replaced in less than two years.
Nikolay Borisov was appointed to the post at the end of September 2023 by the then Minister of Health Hristo Hinkov, who then released Elena Peneva. Initially, he took the post temporarily and then permanently.
« An unknown metropolitan lawyer, unlucky, but also with the only biographical data, somehow related to Ilko Semerdzhiev, a brief residence of the director post in Bull Bio and the departure of the scandal and delayed repairs, the quality of the Vaxini, the quality of the Vaxini Vaxi was appointed to the competition temporarily.
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What information has been refused
Attorney Sharkova and Nadezhda Tsekulova have requested information about the professional qualification and biography of Nikolay Borisov, as well as the reasons for his appointment (and those for the removal of his predecessor Elena Peneva). The questions asked to the department who did not receive an answer include what his concept, with which he subsequently won the competition for the chief of the company, as well as the reasons he was appointed as director of another state -owned company Bul Bio, and then released, whether there was a delay in repairing the company.
« In the beginning of 2024, the competition for the Director of ZIKDB was held. The public announcement was slightly puzzling because the candidates to head the company for the construction of a children’s hospital could be lawyers, doctors, even pharmacists, but could not be, for example, a few months’ time, the competition was won by the competition. Ceculova on Facebook. She added that the health ministry had denied the data « because the CV was personal information and the concept was intellectual property. »
| The Court determines that the data related to the qualification, biography and concepts of candidates for management positions in a public enterprise have the nature of official public information. And the election and dismissal of people holding management positions in 100% state property enterprises, especially those with a mission of national importance (in this case, the construction of a National Children’s Hospital) cannot be hidden behind personal data. |
« Such information is directly related to public life in Bulgaria and allows citizens to draw up an opinion on the actions of the acts obliged under the APIA – in this case the Minister of Health, » the decision said.
