2024-08-15 00:35:26
The nursing home, in which an elderly person died and three were injured today in a fire, was operating illegally. This was announced by the Agency for the Quality of Social Services.
The nursing home was inspected at the end of June this year following a tip-off. And because of a refusal to cooperate, the social workers entered there with the help of police officers from the SDVR, the agency added. During the inspection, it was found that there are 11 adults with health problems in the illegal nursing home.
“The social agency immediately alerted all competent authorities, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor’s Office, about the illegal activity of the object, which is not a social service in the sense of the law. According to the regulations, the Agency does not have the authority to suspend the activities of companies that operate without a license.” said in a press release.
A fire in the two-story house today killed one of the patients of the illegal nursing home, which apparently continued to operate nearly two months after the inspection.
Three women from it will be accommodated in two homes for the elderly, an activity delegated by the state.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy reminds that, in order to guarantee to the greatest extent the quality of social services and the health and safety of consumers, private providers are subject to licensing. The list of licensed suppliers is available on the AKSU website. The list of social services delegated by the state is published on the ASP website.
Acting Minister of the Interior Kalin Stoyanov added that there have been several inspections of the house by the National Revenue Agency and the Social Assistance Agency.
As a result of their checks and findings, documents were sent to the prosecutor’s office stating that administrative violations had been established, he added.
According to him, the file from the prosecutor’s office arrived at the ministry’s structures about two weeks ago. Within these two weeks, the colleagues have fulfilled almost everything that is according to the instructions in the prosecutor’s office, said Stoyanov. The file that we have is still within the deadline, that is, it has a two-month deadline, during which we should fulfill everything that they have indicated to us, specified the minister.
From what my colleagues report to me, it is most likely an unregulated, illegal activity – a home for the elderly, Stoyanov pointed out and added that today a report was received about a fire. Arriving here on the scene, colleagues from the “Fire Safety” manage to get out three of the persons inside, who are in a rather inadequate condition. Perhaps they are patients, if you can call them that. Plus two women, who are led by some way of nurses, but we are yet to specify what they are and, unfortunately, one person who died as a result of the fire, the minister also said.
It is yet to become clear how this home for old people, in our opinion, is unregulated, under what exact form it functioned – was it a foundation or some other organization, but from the initial data that we have established, namely from people’s relatives and friends, who were here as patients, I guess, they say that they paid monthly fees, but they did not receive any documents for that, noted Stoyanov.
The minister said that contact has been made with the relatives and some of the circumstances have been clarified. As far as I know, there is an arrangement for them to appear in the structural units of the SDVR, he also pointed out.
The Ministry of the Interior is not the structure that can close such a home, let’s call it, the minister explained and emphasized that all findings are from the National Revenue Agency and the Social Assistance Agency. They came to the place, found administrative violations, he pointed out. Stoyanov said that according to the initial version of “Fire Safety and Protection of the Population” it was an unextinguished cigarette.
Asked if he has information that the building is a cultural monument, Stoyanov replied that he cannot say at the moment and he personally does not have this information.