Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov has fired Deputy Health Minister Gergana Pavlova on February 21, the Cabinet's news service said.

The statement did not specify a reason for the dismissal, saying only that it was done at Borissov's discretion. Pavlova's remit was to co-ordinate and control the Government policy in the area of medical equipment and drugs, as well as serve as the Cabinet's liaison with the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) on medicaments policy.

Pavlova was appointed in April 2010 and was previously a manager at IMF Health Bulgaria, an information services provider for the health care industry. Prior to that, between 2006 and 2008, Pavlova was a top manager at drug distribution company Sopharma Trading.

Given her remit, Pavlova'a name has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Neli Nesheva, who resigned as managing director of NHIF on February 17 over a bonuses row, website dnevnik.bg said.

Pavlova's dismissal comes at a time when reports in Bulgarian-language media have claimed that Bulgaria is being investigated by the European Commission on suspicion that it allowed one pharmaceutical company to build an alleged monopoly on the domestic market.

Media reports in recent days have also accused Sopharma of selling its medications at inflated prices in Bulgaria, compared to the prices charged in export markets outside the European Union.

"After the Prime Minister's decision, I am now certain that there is a [European Commission] investigation," centre-right Blue Coalition MP Vanyo Sharkov, who is deputy chairperson of Parliament's health care committee, was quoted as saying by dnevnik.bg.

During her tenure, Pavlova has cancelled centralised drug tenders for state hospitals, organised by the Health Ministry, allowing hospitals to speed up deliveries by holding their own tenders. According to reports, this has strengthened the position of drug suppliers, to whom many hospitals are heavily indebted.

Pavlova is the seventh deputy health minister to be fired or resign since the current Government took office in August 2009. There have also been two ministerial changes in the same period.