Bulgarian healthcare is facing an increasingly deep crisis, which includes mass migration of young doctors, uncontrolled use of antibiotics and challenges from new COVID-19 variants. This was emphasized by Swiss expert Dr. Asparuh Iliev, head of a laboratory at the University of Bern, in an interview for the program "Wake up" on NOVA.
"My colleagues in Switzerland are surprised when they hear that young doctors in our country start with a salary of about 1,000 leva. This is one of the main reasons why doctors go abroad," said Dr. Iliev.
According to the expert, the problem is not limited to low remuneration. The lack of development opportunities and the existing "medical oligarchy" are blocking reforms in the sector. "Bulgarian medicine is lagging behind Western medicine and this is causing specialists to seek better conditions abroad", he added.
Dr. Iliev expressed serious concern about the excessive prescription of antibiotics, especially during the summer months. He warned that this practice is particularly dangerous, since antibiotics are effective only for bacterial infections, but are often used for viral diseases, where they are useless.
The expert urged people to avoid self-medication and not take antibiotics during the first few days of infection. Among the bacterial infections in which antibiotic treatment is necessary, he pointed to salmonellosis and campylobacter infection, in which medical consultation is important.
Dr. Iliev informed about the new sub-variant of COVID-19 – Nimbus (NB.1.8.1), which is more contagious, but does not cause a more severe course of the disease. The virus continues to circulate during the summer months, and long COVID remains a serious problem, especially for people with chronic diseases.
"I recommend annual vaccination against both influenza and COVID", the specialist emphasized.
Regarding the decision of the US Secretary of Health to remove COVID vaccines from the immunization calendar for healthy children and pregnant women, Dr. Iliev expressed his categorical disagreement. Despite the low mortality rate in children, long COVID affects about 7-10% of them and leads to serious disorders.
"Therefore, vaccination remains important for this group, as well as for pregnant women in the last trimester," the expert explained.
The Swiss specialist's comment comes at a time when Bulgarian healthcare is experiencing one of its most severe crises with mass protests by doctors, demands for higher salaries and a threatening shortage of staff in all specialties.