Bulgaria’s Health Minister Petar Moskov has warned that emergency medical teams will not respond to calls in Roma neighborhoods until their safety is guaranteed.

In a Sunday interview for bTV he claimed that 174 out of a total of 225 attacks against doctors, paramedics, and ambulance drivers had happened in such neighborhoods.

Stressing that he did not draw a line between the crimes committed by people of different ethnicities, he noted that there was a problem which had to be solved.

He called on the leaders of Roma communities to commit to ensuring the safety of emergency medical teams.

“I am under no obligation to guarantee the right of somebody to beat up doctors,” he stated when reminded that he had to provide equal access to medical aid to all Bulgarian citizens, according to reports of dnevnik.bg.

He called on mayors to meet with the leaders of Roma communities to discuss the problem.