Inside Bulgaria's Easter Celebrations: Traditions Passed Through Generations
Today marks the joyous celebration of Easter, one of the most significant holidays in the Orthodox Christian calendar.
For the ninth successive year Bulgarians have been invited to donate blood as part of the national spring campaign, initiated by the country's Red Cross.
The campaign goes under the motto "Donate blood – save a life" and will continue by May 20.
Bulgaria is showing no sign of being able to cope with the acute shortage of blood as people are becoming more and more reluctant to join donation campaigns, a Novinite.com check showed.
The major part of the Bulgarians who undergo planned operations ask their relatives to donate the needed blood, falling an easy prey to the black market dealers.
Lingering around the National Transfusion Centre, a group of a dozen gypsies may look like any other Roma men who roam along the suburban streets of the capital, but their real purpose is trading blood for money.
The Roma charge from BGN 300 to BGN 600 for the priceless document that proves one of them has donated at least 450 ml of blood.
The black market for blood has recently seen some upgrade with the dealers starting to do business online, which only cemented their status as a staple, though stark, example of health care reminiscent more of a third world country than an EU member state.
It is only after the start of the transition period that Bulgarian hospitals became chronically short of blood for transfusion. Under the communist regime hospitals disposed of sufficient amounts of blood reserves as blood donation campaigns were obligatory.
The number of blood donors shrank dramatically since the fall of communism, leaving patients with yet another psychological obstacle to overcome beside the disease itself and the hospitals' insufficient capacity.
Bulgaria's Ministry of Health says it is recording an ever-declining trend of the number of the voluntary blood donors. Data shows that Bulgaria lags far behind international standards for blood donation - 21 donors per 1,000 people against the required 60 donors per 1,000 people.
Poor economic conditions and low living standards top the list of reasons, together with the fact that blood donation costs time, some pain, and occasionally unpleasant consequences.
We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!
Caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev ordered the cancellation of the Council of Ministers' decision to establish the private Mom and Me Multiprofile Hospital for Active Treatment in Sofia, the government press service said on Saturday.
Bulgaria is set to establish its emergency air assistance service by the end of May, marking a significant step forward in the country's healthcare infrastructure
New data from the World Health Organization (WHO) underscores concerns over the global surge in antibiotic usage during the Covid-19 pandemic, potentially exacerbating the silent threat of antimicrobial resistance.
The Ministry of Health in Bulgaria has announced a significant initiative to provide free whooping cough vaccines to all pregnant women between 27 to 36 weeks of gestation
A recent UN report on the health behaviors of school-age children has unveiled concerning trends regarding alcohol and cigarette consumption among Bulgarian students, sparking widespread concern
In a recent announcement that's bound to catch attention, Bulgaria's Chief State Health Inspector, Assoc. Angel Kunchev, declared that the country will not be declaring an emergency epidemic situation due to the spread of whooping cough
UN Happiness Report: Bulgaria's Astonishing Leap in Rankings
Bulgaria: 3 Regions With Lowest Life Expectancy - EU Report 2022