Despite repeated calls to limit the use of pirates during the holidays, this year too, the doctors on duty at the Eye Diseases Clinic of UMBAL “Tsaritsa Ioanna – ISUL" struggled with serious incidents on New Year's Eve.
Two young men, both 43 years old, completely lost their sight in one eye. One of them was injured while celebrating New Year's Eve in Sandanski, and the other had the incident in Sofia. Both underwent emergency surgery, but unfortunately the lacerations were so serious that doctors were unable to save the vision of the injured eye. This was reported by the press center of the University Hospital “Tsaritsa Ioanna – ISUL”.
“We often repeat that pyrotechnics traumatize domestic animals, but let's not forget that they fatally injure people as well. Every year during the New Year holidays, young people lose their sight”, commented Assoc. Prof. Dr. Borislav Kyuchukov, Head of the Eye Diseases Clinic of the University Hospital “Tsaritsa Ioanna – ISUL, which is also the only one with a 24-hour work schedule during the holidays.
The doctors in the Emergency Department and in the only Emergency ENT office, which is also located in the UMBAL “Tsarina Ioanna – ISUL”, also had a difficult holiday duty. They fought for the life of a 40-year-old man, in a coma, after being beaten. The patient was brought by an Emergency team without identity documents. After 10 attempts to be intubated, a tracheotomy (an operation in which an opening is made directly in the trachea) was necessary. As a result of the efforts of the team (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tsvetomir Marinov, Dr. Stoyan Dimitrov, Dr. Maria Ilieva, Dr. Julide Kasaboglu and Dr. Donika Pancheva) he was saved and today will be transferred for further treatment to the Clinic of Maxillofacial Surgery in another hospital.
A total of 576 patients were examined and treated by the Emergency Department teams on duty between December 29, 2025 and January 5, 2026.
532 patients went through the Emergency ENT office during the period, and 264 sought help in the Emergency Eye Office.
„Unfortunately, despite our appeal to patients to seek us out for truly urgent conditions, for another year the pressure on the Emergency ENT office was extremely high. On weekends, I often talk to my colleagues who are on duty. There was never a case where fewer than 20 people were waiting in front of the office. Some of them had banal symptoms from our point of view that could easily be treated at home," summarizes the situation Prof. Dr. Spiridon Todorov, head of the ENT Clinic of the University Hospital "Tsaritsa Ioanna - ISUL". At the end of the year, he and his colleagues issued an appeal to patients not to overload the Emergency ENT office of the University Hospital "Tsaritsa Ioanna - ISUL", which has been the only one in all of Western Bulgaria for 30 years.