UMHAT "St. Marina" – Varna carried the greatest burden of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 according to "Hospital Index", which was published yesterday.
"The situation is difficult because we have been working under pressure for two years now. Indeed, our hospital has provided treatment for COVID-19 infection not only to patients from North-eastern Bulgaria, but also to patients hospitalised in our medical institution, from a much larger region. And to this day, we still feel that the pressure toward the hospital is high, given the fact that we are in the fifth wave now. 3 241 patients with COVID-19 were admitted to the hospital for 2020, for 2021 - 6 242 patients, i.e. more than 10 000 patients have been treated on the territory of UMHAT "St. Marina" and in the infectious diseases clinics of the hospital so far. During the peak of the penultimate wave, 19 clinics were restructured, more than 800 employees – physicians, nurses and orderlies – were transferred in order to take on the flow of patients directed to our hospital – both from pre-hospital care and from other medical institutions. Patients from more than 32 settlements have been hospitalised in our medical institution – Shumen, Dobrich, Targovishte, Silistra, Veliko Tarnovo, Burgas, etc.," commented Prof. Dr. Silva Andonova, Executive Director of UMHAT "St. Marina" – Varna.
During the highest peak in 2021, at UMHAT "St. Marina" – Varna, we set up both the highest number of beds for uncomplicated cases – 423, and the highest number of intensive care beds for treating the most severely ill patients – 77. Intensive care patients have been in the hands of resuscitators, resuscitation nurses, orderlies, who have been trained to take care of severely ill patients. "I need to emphasise that despite the enormous pressure we feel, despite fatigue, we continue to provide quality and timely medical care to all other types of patients – patients with acute brain strokes, heart attacks, oncological and oncohaematological diseases, to patients in need of surgery, thoracic surgery, vascular surgery. We continue to perform cardiac surgery and to provide quality medical care to children," further explained Prof. Andonova.
UMHAT "St. Marina" – Varna is the only centre for stem cell transplantation, where both children and adults can be transplanted. So far, over 190 autologous and autogenous transplants have been performed in the hospital for oncohaematological patients of different age groups, including children. Personalised medicine is applied to the patients hospitalised in the hospital. Thanks to the availability of new equipment provided by MU – Varna, within less than 24 hours, specialists can make an accurate diagnosis of infectious diseases of bacterial or fungal origin and undertake appropriate antibiotic treatment according to the type of the micro-organism concerned.
The hospital also has the latest generation sequencing equipment, which, in addition to determining genetic diseases in children, hereditary diseases in neurology in adults, determining specific genes in cancer diseases related to subsequent treatment, can also be used to determine the type of COVID causative agent.
"In this epidemiological situation that has persisted for more than two years, it is essential that the hospital continues to function, as is the case up to now, for taking on the flow of patients, the majority of whom need intensive care, as well as severely ill patients according to the profile of the respective diseases. However, the ever-increasing bills for electricity, gas, oxygen, etc. are a cause for concern. In order for the hospital to continue functioning, good funding needs to be provided. At the moment, it is of crucial importance that we meet our needs for gas, electricity, oxygen, and have, as we currently provide, the full range of medications and consumables. Unfortunately, the amounts set as the hospital limit for December, January and February are very low compared to last year's amounts – we are talking about September, October, November. There are no compensation mechanisms for working under unfavourable conditions and in terms of prohibited scheduled admission – an additional payment of up to 100 % of the set limit for medical institutions treating COVID patients. It is also necessary to increase the cost of clinical pathways, which are a major source of income for medical institutions," underlined Prof. Andonova.
Prof. Andonova expressed her gratitude to all doctors, nurses, orderlies and medical specialists for their daily efforts in this unusual environment, who are providing timely and quality medical care.
