Bulgaria will establish six high-tech stroke treatment centres in the country’s largest cities to reduce its record-high stroke mortality, with the project to be financed through EU funds under the Recovery Plan, the Sofia health ministry told Euractiv. One of the EU’s poorest member states, Bulgaria, struggled for years to absorb money from the Recovery Plan, which the European Commission had blocked due to delayed reforms. In 2025, Brussels released the funding, and health authorities in Sofia say they are confident that the €110 million stroke-treatment project will be implemented. In an interview with Euractiv, Associate Professor Dr Rosen Kalpachki, founder and head of the largest specialized stroke treatment centre in Bulgaria, based at Sofia’s St Anna’ hospital and treating nearly 30% of all patients annually, paints a bleak picture of the country’s stroke statistics.
“The aim of the National Plan for Brain Diseases is prevention, early diagnosis, high-quality and high-tech treatment, and ongoing rehabilitation and support for patients with brain disorders,” said Prof Dr Nikolay Gabrovski, neurosurgeon and chair of the Brain Health Council Foundation. Implementing the plan’s measures will require an additional €100 million annually, which can only be provided through the state budget. The plan envisions the establishment of hospitals to meet the enormous need for rehabilitation and care for people who have survived strokes, suffered various injuries, or who have severe dementia – facilities that currently do not exist in Bulgaria. According to recent data, the economic burden of brain diseases in Bulgaria amounts to 2% of GDP, or nearly €2.5 billion.