MEDICAL CERTIFICATES FROM ABROAD

We received an interesting question about "what happens if we receive a medical certificate from abroad?"
Here's our response. First, you check which country the medical certificate is from. If it's from a country with which Bulgaria has a legal assistance agreement, the document should be translated into Bulgarian by a certified translator from a certified translation agency, the translator's signature authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), and then submitted to the National Social Security Institute (NSSI) within 3 days of presenting the medical certificate to the employer. If this is not done within these short deadlines, the NSSI may delay or not pay the compensation.
If the medical certificate is from a country with which Bulgaria does not have a legal assistance agreement, then the document from the foreign country must be apostilled, translated, and the translator's signature authenticated by the MFA from a certified agency. After that, the well-prepared document should be submitted to the NSSI as soon as possible.
All this must be organized within the 3-day period set by law for presenting these documents in proper form.
But what happens when the medical certificate is for a workplace accident?
First, the NSSI has a hotline for individuals working abroad who have suffered a workplace accident. I tried calling it to see if anyone would answer. I persistently called but received no reply. Therefore, I believe the information below will be useful so you can optimally protect your rights.
So, if you suffer a workplace accident abroad, the first thing you should do is ensure you have witnesses to the workplace accident. These witnesses must sign a statement of findings. This document proves the occurrence of the workplace accident. The medical certificate is the document that certifies your health damage, but not the workplace accident itself. Therefore, both are necessary for our administration.
For a workplace accident, the procedure is quite specific. Not only the NSSI should be informed, but also the Labor Inspection. This notification must be carried out by the employer within 3 days of learning about the incident. For the employer to make this notification, both the report and the medical certificate must be translated into Bulgarian by a certified agency authorized to perform official translations.
Again, it's important to note where the accident occurred.
You have two options—within EU member states or in countries that are not EU members. If the accident occurred in an EU member state, then issues of document exchange between institutions should be settled according to ILO Conventions. You have two options. The first option is to receive free medical services abroad, and the NSSI will pay the service provider (i.e., the hospital). The second option is for you to pay for everything on the spot and later seek reimbursement of the invoice from the NHIF here.
In either case, the documents must again arrive here legalized, and an official translation must be made. Again, you need to check if there is a legal assistance agreement between the country where the event occurred and Bulgaria. If there is, the document is translated, and the translator's signature is authenticated by the MFA. If not, the document should have an apostille and here it must be translated and the translator's signature authenticated by the MFA. All this must be organized within the 3-day period because the document package (in the case of a workplace accident, both the report and medical certificate) should be presented to both the NSSI and the Labor Inspection as quickly as possible.
Keep in mind that you cannot translate your documents yourself unless you are a certified translator. Moreover, translations done by translators abroad are not valid here. The MFA has a list, and only translators included in the list can perform translations.
Regarding the payment of compensations, the NSSI or NHIF will not pay you more for treatment and medications than they would pay a Bulgarian hospital. I.e., if the service you paid for abroad costs around 70 euros, and the National Health Insurance Fund rates the same service at 30 leva, your payment will be reduced to 30 leva. The expenses you make for translations and legalizations of documents are your responsibility.

Finally, never travel without insurance and/or a European Health Insurance Card. This guarantees you medical assistance with specific coverage wherever you are, avoiding unpleasant administrative procedures and reductions in compensation payments here.

I hope this has been useful!