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Pandemic leads to a 22% drop in heart surgery

Photo: BGNES

A decline in operations in three key areas of medicine was observed in Bulgaria in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Heart surgeries decreased by 22% last year compared to the previous year. This is shown by the data of the Health Insurance Fund, analyzed in the Index of Hospitals study, the website clinica.bg reports. A decline in this area has not been registered only in pediatric heart surgery - especially in newborns with malformations.
Orthopedic surgeries decreased by 21.5% in 2020 compared to 2019.
The pandemic has had a smaller impact on neurosurgery, where the decline was 8% last year.
Among the reasons for the reduced number of medical interventions is the ban on planned operations, imposed twice by the Minister of Health due to the pandemic.



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