Municipalities today

Burgas Municipality has taken a decisive step towards opening the first specialised municipal children's hospital in Southeast Bulgaria. The St. Anastasia Municipal Multi-profile Hospital for Active Treatment for Children has received its licence to provide medical services from the Minister of Health, completing the final administrative procedure before the hospital begins operations.

The news was announced by Mayor Dimitar Nikolov, who described the issuance of the licence as a key milestone in the implementation of one of the municipality’s most significant healthcare projects.

The documents required for concluding a contract with the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) have already been submitted. Once the agreement is signed, the hospital’s clinics and departments will begin phased commissioning, allowing the first patients to be admitted. Until the procedure is finalised, the municipality plans to organise free preventive health examinations for children, to be carried out by the hospital’s medical teams.

Construction of the new medical facility began in early 2024, following the signing of a co-financing agreement between Burgas Municipality and the European Investment Bank a year earlier. Just two years later, the hospital is ready to begin operations, reflecting the municipality’s consistent efforts to establish a modern paediatric healthcare facility for the region.

The St. Anastasia Children's Hospital has a capacity of more than 100 hospital beds and will provide diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care across almost all major paediatric specialties. Its structure includes clinics and departments for paediatrics, paediatric surgery, orthopaedics and traumatology, cardiology, endocrinology, nephrology, neurology, gastroenterology, pulmonology, haematology and oncology, as well as units for anaesthesiology and intensive care, physical and rehabilitation medicine, ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat diseases, and infectious diseases.

In January 2026, the Council of Ministers approved the hospital's final organisational structure, and in March, following a competitive selection procedure, Dr Blagomir Zdravkov was appointed as its Executive Director. At the same time, the recruitment of medical teams to provide specialised paediatric care also began.

With the opening of St. Anastasia Children's Hospital, Burgas will become home to the first healthcare institution in Southeast Bulgaria dedicated entirely to children's health. The project will significantly improve access to highly specialised paediatric medical care for thousands of children and their families across the region and serves as an example of the important role municipalities can play in developing healthcare infrastructure and improving public services.