Board of Directors
Activity of the Management Board for 2025
By May 2025, the Management Board of the Bulgarian National Association of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery held 2 regular meetings.
Key Decisions Made:
- Organization of an online general meeting in September to adopt the Annual Financial Report within the legal deadlines.
- Updating the membership of the Association – admitting new members interested in the activities of the BNAOHNS.
- Organization and holding of the XIX National Congress on Otorhinolaryngology.
- Approval of the decision of the committee for funding young researchers.
- Commissioning sculptor Kamen Starchev to create a sculpture for the BNAOHNS.
- Commissioning the development of a new website – orl.bg.
- Organization and holding of an off-site meeting of the Management Board.
Management Board Activity for 2024
In 2024, the Management Board of BNAOHNS held 6 regular meetings, 1 in person and 5 online.
Key Decisions Made:
- Organizing an online general meeting in September to adopt the Annual Financial Report (AFR) within the legal deadlines, and an additional in-person meeting during the national congress.
- Voting on and adopting the AFR for 2023.
- Updating the membership of the Association – admitting new members interested in BNAOHNS activities and removing members who fail to pay their membership fee.
- Organization and holding of the XVIII National Congress on Otorhinolaryngology.
- Decision to commission the creation of a sculpture for BNAOHNS.
- Establishing a temporary working group to update the training program for the specialty “ENT Diseases.”
- Adopting and submitting to the Ministry of Health the developed framework training program for acquiring the specialty “ENT Diseases.”
- Discussion of solutions for issuing hearing aid protocols in regions without ENT clinics and departments.
- Submitting to the NHIF the adopted requirements for the committee and examinations related to the issuance of hearing aids, along with a follow-up questionnaire to assess hearing aid effectiveness.
- Updating the members of the working groups under BNAOHNS.
- Decision to mint a commemorative coin with the BNAOHNS logo.
- Reviewing a proposal for reimbursement of biological therapy for polyps and chronic rhinosinusitis.
- Launching a campaign for submitting applications under the sponsorship regulations for young researchers.
- Funding the publication of the book “Imaging Overview of the History of Balkan ENT-HNS” by Prof. Pavel Dimov with 1100 BGN, on the condition that it includes a page with the BNAOHNS logo, acknowledgment of financial support, and that the association receives 12 copies of the book.
Management Board Activity for 2023
In 2023, the Management Board of BNAOHNS held 5 regular meetings.
Key Decisions Made:
- Organizing an online general meeting in September to adopt the Annual Financial Report (AFR) within the legal deadlines, and an additional in-person meeting during the national congress.
- Voting on and adopting the AFR for 2022.
- Updating the membership of the Association – admitting new members interested in BNAOHNS activities and removing members who fail to pay their membership fee.
- Organization and holding of the XVII National Congress on Otorhinolaryngology.
- Assigning responsibilities to members of the newly elected Management Board.
- Updating the members and assigning coordinators of the working groups established under the Association.
- Launching an initiative to collect information about the history of BNAOHNS.
Management Board Activity for 2022
In 2022, the Management Board of BNAOHNS held 6 regular meetings.
Key Decisions Made:
- Organizing an online general meeting in September to adopt the Annual Financial Report (AFR) within the legal deadlines and another in-person meeting during the National Congress.
- Voting on and adopting the AFR for 2021.
- Updating the membership of the Association – admitting new members interested in BNAOHNS activities and removing those who have not paid their membership dues.
- Organizing and conducting the XVI National Congress on Otorhinolaryngology.
- Discussing proposals from the working group on Audiology, Otology, and Neurotology, including cochlear implantation, the creation of a cochlear implant registry, maintaining a unified neonatal hearing screening information system, and implementing pre-school hearing screening.
- Discussing a proposal to NHIF and BMA to remove the referral limit for ENT consultations for children under 12 years of age.
- Rejecting support for the request to allow the execution of Procedure APr18 by oral surgeons in ambulatory settings.
- Sending a letter to the president of the Surgical Association and the Ministry of Health requesting a change in the surgery standard to enable ENT specialists to report clinical pathways in surgical departments.
- Nominating members to the ENT Board under the National Expert Medical Specialty Commission (NESMC).
- Discussing the opportunity for interested companies to advertise in the “International Bulletin of Otorhinolaryngology.”
- Reviewing opportunities to allocate funds for the training of young doctors.
- Adopting the document prepared by Assoc. Prof. Todor Popov titled “Official Guidelines for the Treatment of Epithelial-Origin Malignancies in the Head and Neck Region.”
- Updating the members of the working groups established under the Association.
Management Board Activity for 2021
In 2021, the Management Board of BNAOHNS held 7 regular meetings.
Key Decisions Made:
- Organizing an online general meeting in September to adopt the Annual Financial Report (AFR) within the legal deadlines and another in-person meeting during the National Congress.
- Voting on and adopting the AFR for 2020.
- Updating the Association’s membership – admitting new members interested in the activities of BNAOHNS.
- Organizing and conducting the XV National Congress on Otorhinolaryngology.
- Organizing online lectures by leading national and international specialists on ENT-related topics for members of the Association.
- Establishing a working group focused on outpatient care.
- Launching an initiative to create a list of ENT specialists willing to prepare forensic expert reports.
- Updating the article submission requirements for the “International Bulletin of Otorhinolaryngology” to include discussion of Bulgarian authors who have worked on the topic, and exploring possibilities for plagiarism control.
- Nominating an expert for the ethics committee and an expert to the Bulgarian Medical Association for audits related to the specialty’s activities.
Management Board Activity for 2020
In 2020, the Management Board of BNAOHNS held 5 regular meetings, including 1 in-person and 4 online.
Key Decisions Made:
- Conducting a regular procedure for the adoption of activity reports and annual financial statements for the missed years 2017 and 2018, and registering them in accordance with applicable legislation.
- Voting on and approving the AFRs for 2017, 2018, and 2019.
- Organizing and holding a regular general meeting.
- Proposals to amend the Statutes to enable the Management Board to make decisions remotely and to hold meetings via online communication tools.
- Assigning portfolios to the members of the Management Board.
- Establishing working groups within the Association to address key ENT areas.
- Appointing BNAOHNS representatives responsible for communication with major foreign ENT associations.
- Initiating membership in UEMS and the European Laryngological Society.
- Organizing and conducting the National Congress on Otorhinolaryngology.
- Revising the existing contract with the event organizing company to negotiate better terms for BNAOHNS.
- Signing civil contracts with a legal advisor, accountant, and secretary to support the administrative work of the Association.
- Updating the membership list – removing members who have not paid membership fees for years and admitting new members interested in the activities of BNAOHNS.
- Initiating the creation of a unified calendar for all ENT events in cooperation with other otorhinolaryngology associations.
- Determining a 10% discount on participation fees for all events organized by or under the auspices of BNAOHNS for its members.
- Digitizing the “International Bulletin of Otorhinolaryngology,” including the creation of a separate website, annual hosting and domain support, content processing (images, texts, editing, proofreading, prepress, layout), PDF publishing, and printing 20 physical copies of each issue for library purposes.
- Developing a standardized form for article reviews to be published in the “International Bulletin of Otorhinolaryngology.”
- Commissioning updates to the orl.bg website to create an English version.