Austria stops foreigners' lung transplants, and in Vienna, it is the only hospital with which Bulgaria has an agreement for life-saving operations - up to five such procedures a year.

This puts patients in our country for another trial. The country is negotiating with other countries, but at present there is no concrete result, Director of the Medical Exercise Agency Rosen Ivanov told Darik. The plan of training of Bulgarian teams abroad continues.

"The situation is this: so far the Austrian side has made a decision that is sovereign and we cannot influence it. We are trying to find alternatives. We have an agreement with the Austrian hospital and we have no other because we have no right. Eurotransplant "is only acceptable with one clinic," Ivanov said.
 
Ivanov described Austria's decision as "sudden".

According to Todor Mungorov, chairman of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, our country should look for options outside the Eurotransplant organization that it is currently working with.

"At the moment, we are in the same situation as we were at the end of 2018 - that is, there is no patient included in the European waiting list, there is no clear vision of how that patient could be included in the waiting list. The only hospital that was serving Bulgarian patients is refusing to serve them at the moment. Again, we only have broken promises and talks of hope in the future by the Ministry of Health, "Mangurov commented.

  
The news comes amid transplantation of 28-year-old Iliana Hristova days ago. The girl is already with a new lung and is recovering. For now, however, she will remain the only Bulgarian patient to undergo the procedure.

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