MISCELLANEOUS MEDICAL AND MILITARY INFORMATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A004300950009-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 21, 2009
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: June 16, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2009/09/21: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA004300950009-1
63
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
This Document contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States, within the mean-
ing of Title 18, Sections 793 and 794, of the U.S. Code, as
amended. Its transmission or revelation of its contents
to or receipt by an unauthorized person is prohibited
by law. The reproduction of this form is prohibited.
CONFIDENTIAL
COUNTRY Bulgaria
REPORT
Miscellaneous Medical and
Military Information
DATE DISTR. 16 June 1954
NO. OF PAGES 2
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
1. It is probable that the Bulgarian press played down the epidemic of scarlet fever
which took many lives in the Fall of 1953.
The 25X1
40% of the workers, particularly those in the tobacco industry have had 25X1
tuberculosis. Bulgaria has a rate of TB incidence second only to India?s,
reports have indicated. Tuberculosis is a grave menace as well.
annual polio epidemics have also been severe, possibly more so than newspaper
drugs are scarce in Bulgaria, and: many 25X1
inhabitants of the country depend on friends abroad to send them medical items not
available there.
2. Regarding the number of physicians, their pay is very poor 25X1
alongside the pay in other comparable professions e.g., engineering). This
undoubtedly has an adverse effect on the quality aid quantity of young men who decide
to enter the field of medicine.
3. Almost all adult citizens of Bulgaria participate in emergency medical training.
A two-month course in first ait7 was held in which all Interior Ministry personnel
attended. The course consisted of two 2-hour morning sessions a week. Every
student was issued books for home study, took a final examination, and was awarded
a badge to show successful completion of the course. The instructors were all
doctors. Similar courses were given at night to people in the residential areas of
Sofia who could not participate during working hours. Upon completion of the first
course, a somewhat shorter one was given which covered the emergency medical
defense against bombings, bacteriological warfare, fires, and poisonous gases.
This second course was also compulsory for most of the populace.
'a system of "coefficients" which is used (among other tests) to 25X1
determine the eligibility of recruits for military service. An individual's
"coefficient" is his height in centimeters less the sum of his weight in kilograms
and his chest circumference in centimeters. 25X1
40
25 YEAR
RE-REVIEW
FBI AEC OSI Ev
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the Trudovaks accepte25X1
men with coefficients ranging from about 5 up to 27. Present standards for the
Trudovaks and the armed forces are not known 25X1
5. The Trudovaks have medical facilities roughly comparable to those of the Army, and
these do not differ appreciably from those available to the civilian popu'ace. 25X1
6. In time of emergency, the armed forces will mobilize doctors and medical su lies
from civilian hospitals,
children born after World War II are less healthy 25X1
than those born before World War II.
Tuberculosis appears to have hit the post-war children 25X1
worse than those born before the last war. Food quality and variety are also
definitely inferior in Bulgaria today than in the pre-war period. 25X1
Approved For Release 2009/09/21: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA004300950009-1