Checks at 21 pharmacies in 12 regions found violations and more than €1m wrongly paid out by the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), the fund said.

The pharmacies dispensed medicines whose national product number does not match the product code (GTIN).

The checks began on 10 September. Staff from the fund, the State Agency for National Security (DANS), the Interior Ministry's economic police and the Health Ministry took part. The fund has asked the company Information Services for more technical data, including for 2025.

Expensive medicines were probably diverted, Stoyno Tsvetkov, deputy head of the National Police Directorate, told a briefing. He said the scheme has run since 2025 and has caused particularly large losses to the NHIF budget, running into millions of euros.

Real-time checks will be introduced to stop such cases. Information Services, the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union and the holders of marketing authorisations for the medicines are preparing them together.