Not only a children's hospital, but also pediatricians are already in short supply, and the demographic crisis in our country and the difficulties of young people in raising their children is not known since yesterday and today.

Why is it such a big problem for parents in Bulgaria to find a pediatrician near their home, and is it normal for family doctors to examine newborns, young, old, very sick and less sick at the same time?

There is no interest in pediatrics among medical graduates, why?

How dangerous are viral and respiratory diseases at the moment?


I am talking to Prof. Atanas Mangarov, head of the Children's Clinic at SBALIPB "Prof.

Iv. Kirov" - Sofia - Specialized hospital for infectious and parasitic diseases.



Where have the pediatricians that every mother once relied on to drop by her home to check on her baby or child go?

Well, a large part of them died, and the others are on life expectancy.

Now very few young colleagues go to this specialty, due to the fact that financially it is not an attractive specialty.

The few who do turn to it do so out of altruistic motives and mostly out of a desire to work with children.


There is very little interest in pediatrics.

Most young specialists prefer to become cardiologists, oncohematologists, neurosurgeons.

The influx is there because there is shrewd funding and generous clinical pathways in these specialties.

There are no new pediatricians in the pre-hospital care, the existing ones have a specialty from years ago.

In our health system, the personal physician, who is a general practitioner, also treats small babies, and old grandmothers, and pregnant women, and all sorts of others.

Personally, I think that the system with personal doctors is an anachronism.

It was created by Bismarck back in 1883 for the working class in Western Europe with the aim of having someone to take care of people first and last - closing their eyes, giving them the opportunity to make a final confession and so on.


But in the 21st century, the existence of the system of personal doctors is a pure anachronism.


Before, our healthcare structure seemed to be more orderly.

The polyclinics in the districts and cities had paediatricians, there were doctors for the elderly, for women's health, etc..


The current system assumes that the care of newborns should be taken over by family doctors, regardless of whether they live near or far from home of the patient.

In practice, however, pure chaos results because the mother is with one doctor, the father with another, and the child with a third.

Thus, the meaning of the term "family doctor" is lost.


It is also a fact that many doctors refuse to deal with children's health because they do not have the necessary competence.

Treating children has its specifics and that is why it is important to have more pediatricians.


Sometime in 1997, the NHIF introduced the idiotic principle that the money followed the patient, and thus organized chaos ensued, which further deepened the demographic crisis, since it is no secret that

Bulgarians give birth to fewer children because of the problems in the country that they struggle with every day.

I hope to live to see a better organization in our health care system so that when a person needs a specialist, he gets the opportunity to use his skills - cardiologists, surgeons, pediatricians, etc.


It is also important to know that hospitals are like fire stations - they should not be closed just because there is currently no fire.

What if tomorrow, if it catches fire and you have already destroyed, closed a health facility?!


This year there is a cocktail of several viruses swirling around this season.

Influenza currently dominates, but there are other respiratory viruses, plus the coronavirus.

But there is nothing unusual, little by little we are returning to the normal attitude towards these diseases and the fear and panickers are decreasing.


healthcare

pediatricians

Prof. Dr. Atanas Mangarov