Three People Received a Chance for a Better Life Following a Donor Situation

The family of a 44-year-old woman has decided to donate her organs after she was declared brain dead at the "Saint Marina" hospital in Varna.

A military plane was dispatched to Varna to transport her organs. A team from the Military Medical Academy (MMA) successfully transplanted the liver into a 54-year-old woman, while kidneys were transplanted at "Lozenets" University Hospital to two men, aged 39 and 53.

The MMA said that due to the critical condition of the 54-year-old woman, the liver transplant took 8.5 hours. After the procedure, her condition stabilised.

This was the second donor situation in Bulgaria for this year.

In 2023, 22 donor situations were implemented in the country, while in 2022, there were 14. In total, 96 transplants have been performed in Bulgaria from 2022 to 2024, including 61 kidney transplants, 28 liver transplants, and 7 heart transplants.

During the same period, 227 Bulgarians received transplants abroad. Among them, 201 received kidney transplants, 23 received liver transplants, and three received heart transplants. All those transplanted abroad are under monitoring in Bulgaria. These figures come from a response to a parliamentary question to the health minister.

Over the past three years, Bulgaria has donated 26 organs to European partners but has received only one organ.

Out of 31 licensed hospitals in the country, only 9 performed donor procedures last year.

Currently, five medical institutions are authorized to perform transplants. Bulgaria still lacks a licensed facility for lung transplants.

According to the Executive Agency for Medical Supervision, there are currently 828 people waiting for transplants in Bulgaria. The majority—769 people—are waiting for kidneys, 25 are waiting for a liver, 22 for a heart, 10 for lungs, and 2 for small intestine transplants.