Vulgaria?

Novinite Insider » EDITORIAL | Author: Milena Hristova |November 15, 2011, Tuesday // 15:11
Bulgaria: Vulgaria?

A former miner blows himself up to stop the excruciating pain. Orphans, elderly and mentally ill people face the grisly prospect of having their teeth pulled out without anesthesia.

No, these are not stories from the annals of the Inquisition. This is today's Bulgaria and the stories of its most vulnerable heroes – the terminally ill and the abandoned.

When the medicine can no longer help the patient, there is one last gesture it is obliged to make – try to alleviate the pain.

Shortage of morphine – used in Bulgaria to ease the suffering of cancer patients because of lack of other more sophisticated pain killers – forced the former miner from the village of Novachevo to put his professional skills to good use and find peace in death.

Shortage of money in the health insurance fund – crippled by corruption and used in Bulgaria as a tool for funds siphoning – will force those three disadvantaged groups to just skip the dentist altogether.

The echo of the miner's blast is so loud and the thought of no aneshesia so shocking that it makes any comment sounds silly and cynical. Especially the following quote by Vladislav Goranov, Bulgaria's Deputy Finance Minister:

"Bulgaria lost momentum in the health care sector because there was no clear concept which way to go. The things that can not be planned will have to be left to their natural development... We can make up for the lost time by implementing radical measures such as the closure of hospitals that are not economically viable, but have been kept open out of pure local patriotism."

In other words - survival of the fittest, cheekiest and richest.

The truth is that Bulgaria's finance ministry belt-tightening policy has created the illusion of a healthy economy on the back of the people, who are three times poorer than the average EU citizen and are just getting poorer.

When struck by a severe condition, Bulgarian nouveaux riches regularly go abroad for treatment. The less fortunate have more sinister stories to tell.

For them a light in the tunnel of Bulgaria's problem-ridden and facilities-short health system seem to be only its doctors and patient organizations, which have won many battles so far in defending the patient's rights. The relations between patients and doctors, however, are often strained, mostly because the doctor is considered as part of the dreaded system and has no money and time to pay the patient the necessary attention.

Some say the media is guilty of presenting the state only as a cruel step mother in its care for the cancer sufferers, which is described as genocide.

Well, go to any municipal hospital even in the capital and you will see that after years of lumbering reforms in Bulgaria's health care system, it looks and acts like it has switched into a war-time regime, tapping into the reserves, meant to be used in case of natural disasters and wars. Why? Lack of cash, of course.

Patients, particularly the cancer sufferers, and their families feel abandoned in their struggle to come to terms with the illness, both in terms of treatment and emotional support. Unlike other European countries, whose health care systems do their best to fund extra services to support these people and their relatives through the darkest of times, those who have been diagnosed with cancer in Bulgaria face a chronic shortage of life-saving medicines. Not to mention the lack of support they need to cope with the emotional turmoil of the illness.

I remember an American woman, who allowed her hair to be cut by her 4-year-old daughter, as she was going to lose her hair anyway during chemotherapy. Not only was she worried about her own prognosis, but she was afraid of her daughter's reaction to the news. And she found a great way of alleviating the terrifying task of telling her daughter Mommy has cancer.

A number of cultural and social factors have prevented Bulgarians to talk about illness or body or approach the issue openly. Thousands of parents face the same dilemma of that American woman, but rarely come up with original ideas. Anger, pity and shame are the most common feelings that emerge.

There is only one way out – an open and honest relationship between doctors, patients and non-governmental organizations, combined with pressure on the state to provide for those who need it most.

Otherwise shall we have justification to pout when foreigners snootily refer to us as the vulgar Bulgars?

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