President Georgi Purvanov became the latest official to come out and criticise BBC4 documentary Bulgaria's Abandoned Children as a film aimed against Bulgaria and Bulgarian people during a discussion on child issues, health care and social care homes, held in the town of Rousse on March 9 2008.

"I was deeply perturbed by that film, which is not made with love towards Bulgaria, which is a part of an anti-Bulgarian campaign that I do not know who and to what end has instigated," he said as quoted by mediapool.bg.

There are things featured in the film we are fully aware of, Purvanov said, although he added that the standard of care in homes like Mogilino was not anywhere near to what Bulgaria should aspire to.

Bulgaria has 144 social care homes for children, 25 of them being for disabled children. A large number of children in there, around 90 per cent, were abandoned, not orphans, and Parliament should adopt measures to reduce the scale of the process, Purvanov said.

The presidency would establish a work group to draw up 10-15 points for specific actions to be taken in line with the strategy. Purvanov also proposed that a "Priyateli" (Friends) club be created to allow the Bulgarian business and social communities related to the issues at child social care homes work together, mediapool.bg quoted him as saying.

Another measure would be to raise salaries of the personnel employed in social care homes, improving their motivation, he said during the discussion, which also included Labour and Social Policy Minister Emilia Maslarova and Health Minister Radoslav Gaidarski.

The Mogilino social care home for disabled children became infamous after BBC aired Bulgaria's Abandoned Children documentary by Kate Blewett. The film showed the horrible living conditions in the home and shocked the public. Following the screening, UNICEF intervened and a national campaign to raise money to help the Mogilino children was carried out by Bulgarian private broadcaster bTV. Finally, the state institutions decided to close down the home.

The screening of the documentary at the European Parliament on March 4 2008 and the discussion that followed, however, made a number of Bulgarian politicians claim the overexposure of the film was aimed against Bulgaria.