Water flashmob in support of organ donation and transplantation was held in Varna. The performance was done by the girls from the synchronised swimming team of Albatros Club - Varna and is a part of an information campaign dedicated to donation and transplantation, which is carried out with the assistance of Astellas and with the support of the Executive Agency for Medical Audit, UMHAT “St. Marina” – Varna, MU-Varna, Varna Municipality and medconsult.bg. At the end of the performance, which finished with a huge heart, red balloons floated in the air, in memory of the donors with their names written on them. The Varna University Hospital is among the leading hospitals in the country in terms of implemented donor situations. Within 2005 - 2018 there have been 48 situations, and as a result more than 230 patients have been transplanted. The event was attended by transplanted patients from all over the country who had received the most valuable gift - life, as well as by Prof. Dr. Vilian Platikanov, Head of the Clinic for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care at UMHAT “St. Marina” in Varna.
Transplantation is one of the miracles of modern medicine, thanks to which hundreds of people around the world, for whom this is the only possible treatment, get a chance to live. Organ transplantation is vital for the treatment and quality of life of patients, suffering from various diseases that affect the liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, etc. The major idea of the campaign is people to get aware of the importance of donation so that everyone to be able to make conscious and informed choices in case they get into a situation where they have to decide whether to donate the organs of their relatives. At present more than 1000 Bulgarians are on the kidney transplant waiting list. According to information from the Executive Agency for Transplantation, which has been a part of the new Executive Agency for Medical Audit since 1.04.2019, in 2018 in Bulgaria, 16 donor situations have been implemented in cases of brain dead patients, and in 2019 - three. Consequently, more than 40 patients have had a chance for a new life during that period, among them - kidney transplants in 22 patients, liver - in 14 and a heart - in five people. According to statistics, Bulgaria ranks last in the number of donors per 1 million population in Europe, and one of the reasons is the insufficient awareness of the society of this process, of the progress of medicine and the opportunities for the patients in need of transplantation.
Brain death is an irreversible state, when the central nervous system of a person irrevocably ceases to function, and the function of all other organs is artificially maintained. Two are the most common causes of brain death: accidents and massive brain haemorrhage. The incidence of brain death, with no damage to other organs, is approximately 50 cases per year per 1,000,000 population worldwide. Only a small number of the donor situations can be implemented, and the life of seven - eight people can be saved in one donor situation.
Transplantation is more than just a life-saving operation! It totally changes the quality of life of patients, who have been suffering for years! And donation is an individual choice of goodness and humanity!
Velina Markovska
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