Month: May 2024

Habilitated pediatricians and medics to the people

The main question nation before the nation is when will we reduce record infant mortality and very high overall mortality? When will we stem the deepening demographic crisis? Can we achieve good health care without competition on quality and without patients having a wide choice of where to be treated?

The launch of the multi-profile high-tech ‘Mama and I’ non-children’s private hospital in Sofia and the construction of the state-run National Children’s Hospital (NCH) in Gorna Banya go hand in hand towards the solution and are part of the right answers to these questions. So the parties should ask and listen to the voters, who know that no country in the world has achieved high-quality healthcare on its own. This is as true in autocratic regimes as it is in a political democracy with a market economy. It is only possible when domestic investors are not driven away, because without them, foreign investors don’t come either. It is possible when competition on quality is encouraged and the right to a wide range of patient choices is ensured.

How exactly is the ‘Mom and Me’ project in Sofia preventing the state from “standing its ground” as President Radev wants? We are developing a very young workforce in the state-of-the-art newly built ‘Mama and I’ maternal and child health clinic in Pleven. We accept the most difficult and severe cases. Treatment of children is free of charge. We work on the same undervalued paediatric pathways and show that with good management a paediatric clinic can exist without permanent state subsidies, and when they are provided to the state, they should be there for the private ones, because we treat Bulgarian children too!

Therefore WE ARE FREE TO TELL THE TRUTH: We are not serfs to be “pulled”, “(under)dragged”, “booked” or “taken over”, nor can paid consultants or landed gentry foundations advise us on the feudalisation they serve! Why, being against ‘Mommy and Me’, did the opposition not and have not created cadres for so many years so far? How and why are they reserving cadre potential in deficit for future hospitals for after 6 or more years? The modern medicine we practice is an applied and team science – in constant powerful development. Clearly the opposition is serving competing and other conservative vested interests, orchestrating the blockade of metropolitan patients and suppressing honest competition.

Since Glavchev has repeatedly admitted that Decision No. 318 of 30 April this year was legal and correct, and was indeed adopted according to the established procedure, with a previously published agenda of the Council of Ministers, should the people now tell the parties – should the laws be respected in our European republic, or are we going to listen to self-appointed foundations, networks, platforms and esnafs who scream that the decision was “taken in the dark” and “not coordinated” with them? The exercise of state protectionism in Sofia healthcare and the blocking of patients’ access to quality competition are only the visible dimensions of the double standards in the ‘deep state’. That is why Prime Minister Glavchev refuses to meet, and there is no help for the children who are treated in the private ‘Mama and I’!

The voters should tell the parties that before there are students and teachers at the May 24 celebrations, there must be healthy children and healthy parents. Before we can have a fighting army we must raise healthy children and have enough qualified and motivated medics in the country as well as engineers, pilots, accountants. And how will all this be achieved without , Mama and I’ and without the NDP, and without competition on quality in health care, and without adherence to professional medical standards? The incumbent ‘savants’ and populists did not create the cadres, but drove them out, they do not treat children, and infant mortality is skyrocketing, they serve feudalization against competition, they cannot build modern hospitals, and they do not give the proven investors to build in Sofia – because nowhere in the world the state alone can do everything!

Since the president has no right to interfere in the work of the government, and the prime minister has no right to divide hospitals according to their ownership and children into assisted and abandoned again, let all parties in Sofia ask their voters in election meetings and assemblies:

Do you want a new modern multi-specialty hospital in Sofia to improve the quality of health care? Without it, will the 50 per cent of empty beds in the country’s largest city be filled and how will the severe shortage of staff be overcome? Can a blockade of the capital city and the elimination of quality competition reform and develop healthcare? Do we want to treat our children and families in Romania, Turkey and other private clinics abroad? With ‘Mama and I’ in Sofia, will more young doctors and nurses stay in Bulgaria and more return from abroad?

At ‘Mama and I‘ we invest in the long-term training and development of our specialists.

The full interview can be seen here in Bulgarian.

The birth of every child is a period filled with anxious anticipation and excitement. But when a newborn is one of around 6,500 premature babies born in Bulgaria each year, staying in intensive care is a huge emotional challenge for the whole family. Parents often feel confused and frightened by the long hospital stay. Kangaroo care plays a key role in these moments.

Originating in 1970 in Bogotá, Colombia, it has seen a rapid rise and is gaining popularity among modern professionals. Kangaroo care is a globally recognized practice through which contact is made between parents and the newborn admitted to an intensive neonatal care unit. Through numerous studies, it has been established that mother-baby (or dad-baby) contact is not just a hug, but a set of multiple beneficial effects that follow from these contacts.

Since the opening of our newest maternal and child health clinic ‘Mama and I’ one year ago, a dedicated kangaroo room has existed in the neonatology department – an integral part of the holistic care we aim to provide to our young patients and their parents. Once premature (and sometimes “normally” delivered) newborns are removed from the intensive highly specialized environment, a kangaroo room is provided for parents. It is useful for both the baby and the parents, who are given the chance to be part of the hospital stay and actively participate in their child’s upbringing.

Here, through the advice and practices of the medical professionals, not only are parents educated in the care of their children, but a strong and meaningful bond is built, often practicing the kangaroo-contact right down to the couch itself. On a daily basis, the midwives and doctors help the mother with advice related to breastfeeding, daily toileting and individual features related to the child’s condition. We welcome and encourage the equal participation of both parents as a unit, and increasingly actively involve the dad in the overall care of both premature and term babies.

The Kangaroo Corner of ‘ Mama and I’ implements world-renowned recommendations and builds confident and calm parents who will provide better quality care for their children. In this room we have successfully completed the diagnostic and treatment process and care for the youngest patients born with us and in Bulgaria in general – Sashko weighing 630 grams, Petya weighing only 600 grams, Rayan…. and many other children who are now healthy and with their parents.

The fine size of the equipment allows the diagnosis of some rarer conditions in the pancreatic duct

Since the end of April 2024, the Gastroenterology Clinic at ‘Heart and Brain’ Burgas has a cholangioscope. This is a thin endoscope that is inserted into the bile duct and allows accurate diagnosis of biliary tree tumours as well as extraction of concrements by laser destruction.

The fine size of the device also allows it to enter the pancreatic duct, which can diagnose some rarer conditions of this important and sensitive organ.

“The cholangioscope enables the clinic’s gastroenterologists to perform a complete diagnosis of biliopancreatic diseases. This type of research and diagnostics is unique for the region of Eastern Bulgaria” – reports Assoc. Prof. Mirchev.

We are happy to announce the global achievement of Prof. Iana Simova and her team in the field of clinical trials!

In the middle of last month a research team led by prof. Iana Simova, successfully randomized the first global patient, marking a key milestone in clinical trials.

This success earned them a prestigious place in the global pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, which honoured them for their dedication to advancing the treatment of chronic diseases.

Undoubtedly, Prof. Simova and her team are distinguished by their dedication to the advancement of medicine, holding leading positions in patient recruitment and for various other clinical trials, related to cardiovascular disease. Their outstanding professionalism and unwavering dedication continue to support innovation in medicine and bring hope to patients around the world.

“We are a highly sought-after center and an extremely desirable partner in conducting clinical trials, both by leading, established and emerging pharma industries as well as by CRO companies. We are typically among the first companies with patient enrollment, we very often recruit the most participants not only in Bulgaria, but also in Europe and worldwide. Auditors are delighted with us, we even had an inspection by the FDA, and the agency was impressed with  our good organization”, said prof. Simova. “When it comes to innovation, development of medical science and new opportunities for patients, with us”NO” is not an answer!”.

Two days ago, PM Glavchev promised BGN 1.3 million of targeted state aid for the existing state paediatrics in Sofia

Mr Prime Minister, it is commendable that the government has decided to allocate funds for the children of Bulgaria. But state financial aid should be distributed equally among all medical institutions – whether they are state, private or municipal – it is enough that you have identified the acute needs for improvement. And that is why you should visit all paediatric clinics as you go – in Sofia and across the country – because you are the Prime Minister of the whole of Bulgaria and because all of us across the country are treating Bulgarian children. We in Pleven, it is well known, accept the worst cases!

In all Bulgarian paediatrics we need constant modernization of equipment, new investments in continuing education of our specialists, including specializations and gaining experience in the best clinics abroad. Because we all treat the children of Bulgaria and our goal is common – the constant improvement of the quality of treatment and health care for all our Bulgarian children.

Mr Prime Minister, the inequality in your actions makes your otherwise solemn words “the priority of priorities is the health of Bulgarian children” lighten when you visit one hospital and only give it targeted state financial aid! This course of leadership of the state and health care is one-sided, divisive and empty.

I fought my way, through recommendations from Germany and France, to work in one of the most modern hospitals in the Balkans, where we treat the most severe cases from Sofia, North and South Bulgaria, including individual patients from all Balkan countries, but even in my department we need to upgrade the existing high-tech equipment to deal even more successfully with orthopedic and traumatic diseases in small patients. You can probably imagine that if we left these malformations and abnormalities after puberty, we would not have fully fledged young people, neither soldiers nor accountants.

When will you visit us in Pleven – we made a public invitation to you already on May 4 – we will be glad to acquaint you on the spot with our plans for development and the need for new investments in order to make the most rational use of the state aid which is due to us on an equal footing. Because – you have said – you understand that the health of Bulgaria’s children is of the utmost political, social and economic importance for the nation, so that we have healthy citizens tomorrow – teachers, doctors, police officers, administration and civil servants in all sectors.

Mr. Prime Minister, it seems that this most important topic – “priority of priorities” – will haunt you for the rest of your term, and its resolution will determine how you yourself will remain in history as Prime Minister of the Motherland.

Why, Mr Prime Minister, are you humiliating SANS and the prosecutor’s office and occupying them with tasks that are not theirs? This is how you discredit the state regulators, the Ministry of Health, the National Health Insurance Fund, the Ministry of Health and all the ministries, departments and agencies that have perfectly coordinated the regular Decision 318 of the Council of Ministers of 30 April. On top of that, you yourself have repeatedly admitted that it is legal, and now the SANS and the prosecutor’s office are looking for some crime in the regulators who have worked for 2 years to come to a reasoned proposal and the Council of Ministers to legally adopt the correct Decision 318.

For what reasons, Mr. Prime Minister, do you listen to various foundations and a public council to build a national children’s hospital by the state, which has built nothing, does not know how to build anything, and its “pundits” constantly refer to generally accepted “data and analysis” of a non-existent need for a new modern hospital in Sofia, which no one anywhere has acknowledged and accepted. Well, they are simply participating in the blockade of the right of choice of the metropolitans and the suppression of competition in quality that we, the law, Europe and the democratic world offer. At the same time, they are waiting for a funding bank to determine their bed requirements and paediatric care needs in the country – and the data is in the government statistics and information databases of the competent government bodies, regulators and legitimate professional organisations. All these pseudo-experts, without being physicians, pretend to be “experts”, pursue escapist and predatory interests and “sell” you shiny empty packages, while my colleague, Assoc. Prof. Svilen Todorov we treat and consult extremely severe cases and abnormalities – and that is why we are very indignant about this ongoing buffoonery!

You have not yet responded to the invitation to visit the state-of-the-art and newly-built ‘Mama and I’ maternal and child health clinic in Pleven, sent to you on May 4, 2024, and therefore we EXPECT you to receive us in the MC together with the Minister of Health and the Minister of Finance, as you receive the state paediatricians.

by Professor Yana Simova MD, Ph.D. – with over 500 publications in the world’s major scientific medical journals, Director of the Bulgarian Cardiac Institute

What “facts” […] “came out in the public”, Mr. Prime Minister, “that we had no way of knowing about and we immediately reacted to!”. How do these “facts” and “suspicions” of yours of May 6th threaten national security so much that you will activate the SANS and the prosecutor’s office?

In all my conscious life I have adored the medicine of evidence and justice, and the administration of justice by evidence. You single-handedly, without a gram of justification, tried to overturn on May 1st the decision No 318 of 30 April to authorise the new state-of-the-art multi-profile hospital “Mama and I” in Sofia, which you yourself acknowledged, repeatedly then and afterwards, to be perfectly lawful – by issuing the NULL AND VOID Decision No 319. No judgement or judgement by default was made on May 1, 2024 at 10:35 p.m.! This sets a unique and even shameful precedent in healthcare administration and government!

Instead of congratulating and even rewarding Dr. Kondeva, Dr. Penkov, Mrs. Dineva, Prof. Kolarov, Dr. Dobreva and all the qualified officials and medical specialists in the Ministry of Health who have worked on the file for two years, coordinated without objection by all departments, agencies and services in the executive branch, you now call SANS and the prosecutor’s office to investigate “suspicions” and “facts” known only to you. It would be better to spare the long and costly trials for the responsibility of the state in Sofia and abroad by simply acknowledging the NULL AND VOID Decision No 319 of 1 May this year.

When you accept the invitation of the experts of the first, in the last five decades, newly built clinic for maternal and children’s health “Mama and I” to visit us in Pleven, we will have the opportunity to discuss your “facts” and “suspicions” and even more important – we will draw the real ways to accelerate the development of Bulgarian healthcare. Well, we will also save the working time of the SANS agents who, like the majority of the Bulgarian people, fail to get their regular health check-ups.

by Dr. Velimir Simov, pediatrician, and all the doctors and medical specialists at the clinic for maternal and children’s health ‘Mama and I’ in Pleven

On May 1, President Rumen Radev launched a campaign against the decision of Council of Ministers No. 318 of April 30, which authorizes a new modern multi-profile hospital ‘Mama
and I’ in Sofia, and on May 6 he explained to all media „… there is room for private initiative in healthcare in Bulgaria, but especially children’s healthcare should be a national priority and here the state should stand its ground, and there is a delay of so many years in building a national children’s hospital…“.

Questions:
How exactly is the ‘Mama and I’ project in Sofia preventing the state from standing its ground?

Obviously not with the envisaged 40 pediatric beds, which the investor was ready to give up; is there something else?

Is there state protectionism in Sofia healthcare and a blockade of patient access to quality competition; where does the VP’s husband work and what is his salary?

Do you believe that we physicians, and pediatricians in particular, are serfs and can be feudalized into someone else’s public or private healthcare estate?

Notwithstanding the fact that you, Mr. President, have issued the decree appointing Prime Minister Glavchev and his government, should you not strictly observe the fundamental
constitutional principle of separation of powers and not interfere in the work of the executive branch with instructional calls to overrule lawful and correct decisions?

Do you think that by blocking Sofia patients and preventing the entry of competition on European and American quality of practiced medicine, the 50 percent empty and
unattractive beds in the capital will be filled, or the severe deficit of pediatricians and nurses will be overcome?

Do you believe that PM Glavchev can legally overrule a legitimate decision of the Council of Ministers because of “doubts” and unsettled “facts”?

Why have you never taken it upon yourself to block many hundreds of new hospital beds and activities in Sofia licensed by your caretaker and regular governments until now?

Can a blockade of quality competition address the demographic crisis or stop patients and families continuing to pour their last savings into private hospitals abroad?

We have already invited Prime Minister Glavchev, and today, most cordially, kindly and openly, on the Day of Bravery and the Great Bulgarian Army, we invite you to visit us in
Pleven where we treat the most severe cases of sick children from all over Bulgaria – to see that the European level of healthcare is possible in the Motherland – because children are
the most precious thing!

“We dared to imagine, we did it ourselves and we found a brighter future for our children”, … “We are the first newly built clinic for maternal and children’s health in Bulgaria in the
last 50 years, which opened its doors on June 1, 2023 and achieves high results”.