Emergency blood donation in Burgas Bulgaria

[DesperateforSunshine]

Well- there was a post on Facebook by a friend of mine in Bulgaria last Friday which sounded a bit urgent rather than the usual BS. I messaged her directly rather then responding on the page and it turned out that her husband (a good friend of mine) was in the Head and Heart hospital in Burgas with circulation issues. His toes on his left foot had only 2-5% circulation and was at risk of loosing at least some toes and maybe his leg. Anyway - within 2 hours we were in Burgas donating blood as here they like you/friends to give at least as much as the recipient needs. I then learnt I was A- , the forms were fierce, you cannot be over 65yo but all was done and he has lost a toe. He was cut from the top of his leg via the groin up towards his heart and they have ‘rodded’ out the artery and installed a few stents. He was released on Monday and is doing well. He was only admitted on Thursday evening, next day surgery and out after the weekend. I thought it was superb for a ‘third world country’. It knocks the NHS into a cocked hat.

This is the best advert for moving to Bulgaria their government could come up with?

In the NHS if someone had a critically ischaemic limb they wouldn't have to call on friends and family for blood donations before getting surgery. Because we have a functioning transfusion system. How is the Bulgarian version more impressive??

I don’t get what you find impressive about that. If the NHS were having to search for friends and family to donate blood so they could perform surgery I’d be concerned not impressed.

What do you mean by a 'third world country'?? Bulgaria is part of the EU and (to quote Wikipedia) "A developed country, its advanced, high-income economy is part of the European single market and is largely based on services, followed by manufacturing, mining, and agriculture."

Bulgaria is not a 3rd world country 😂😂😂😂
christ on a bike

everything about this post is odd.

I am happy NHS doesn't rely on the patients friends...

Why do we keep getting posts about the Bulgarian medical system?!?!

Unless your friends's husband is a very very rare blood type, why would a functioning medical system rely on his wife appealing for Facebook friends to fly over from another country to donate blood?

In the UK like all functioning developed countries urgent calls for blood donation only happen if there is extreme stress on the system - like a big accident or disaster.

How in the name of God Almighty does having to call someone for the UK to give blood for an operation in Bulgaria "knock the NHS into a cocked hat"????

Also, you note NOTHING has been said about the cost of this operation and who will be paying for it.

If the OP is trying to make some sort of point about waiting times, I think you will find that emergency operations in the UK are done every bit as rapidly as in Bulgaria and without having to send 1/4 of the way around the world for a blood donor.

I call complete, total and utter BULLSHIT!

If you need urgent treatment the nhs is excellent and doesn’t depend on family donating blood, in the uk we also have good primary care services so you shouldn’t get to the stage your family member was in (people moan but the services are there, my gp is excellent, the main issue is queues for elective / non urgent hospital services not emergencies)

also Bulgarian healthcare is not free at the point of use and you pay 3.2% of your income each month as well. Copays are high and if your Google “do people in bulgaria pay for healthcare” it’s very telling including about long waiting times and people going private to to mention not all normal drugs being available!

How many people is the “we” who went to Bulgaria? How much blood did you need to donate to meet “at least as much as the recipient needs”? Because that could be an awful lot of blood for a couple of people.

I actually googled this because it seemed so random. I came across a post where their prime minister came on to say it’s not necessary to ask family for donations and if any hospital does it’s a breach that needs to be investigated.

I haven’t spent a lot of time looking in to it beyond that but it seems to me that maybe some hospitals do this to cut the cost of sourcing it from other areas and maybe has / is a problem.

But OPs post is weird as hell anyway.

Do you live in Bulgaria? If not, then they would have had no family and friends to give blood and then what?

what a weird post.