Calls for investigation into local hospital

In this week’s Buzz:

• End-of-summer season party at The Hub on Friday 🥳

• Bansko Mountain Rescue help Pirin Ultra participant off the mountain

• Calls for an inspection of the hospital and emergency medical center in Razlog

• Does anyone know where to get travel vaccinations?

• A few tough derbies for FC Bansko at the moment

• BSD’s pub quiz night tomorrow (Monday)

• Shipments from outside of the EU look like they’ll get even more expensive

• Explosion at ammo depot in Bulgaria said to be sabotage

• Would you be interested in donating blood?

After three serious incidents, calls are growing for an inspection of Razlog Hospital and the emergency medical center in Razlog

This weekend, Struma News published an article about what it calls systemic failures at Razlog Hospital and the emergency medical center in Razlog.

The article draws on three key incidents in recent weeks.

Children being transported with cardboard splints: children reportedly arrived at medical centers in Sofia with limbs immobilised using cardboard rather than appropriate splints. The hospital in Razlog blamed the issue on the emergency center, and the emergency center said they didn’t have splints for children, so they did the best they could. (The hospital and the emergency center are separate legal & administrative entities, even though they operate on the same grounds.)

A seriously injured woman needed blood before being transported. The emergency helicopter team (HEMS) were called from their base in Sofia to transport a woman for treatment (from Razlog to Sofia). The medical team on board said the woman needed blood before she could be transported safely. The problem was that Razlog did not have the necessary blood for the patient, and the article questions whether the HEMS team were informed before they arrived. This resulted in the HEMS team having to fly to Blagoevgrad, collect the blood, and then give her the appropriate amount before flying her to Sofia for treatment. (What isn’t clear is whether the HEMS team were told about the lack of blood before they set off. If they had known, they could’ve collected some on the way to Razlog.)

A six-year-old girl died in an ambulance en route to Sofia. A local girl was being treated at the emergency medical center in Razlog. A doctor from Razlog accompanied the girl in the ambulance, but she died during the journey in the Pernik area (about 30 to 40 minutes from Sofia). The cause of death has been linked to a heart condition, but the final conclusions are yet to be determined. Her grandmother has raised serious concerns: there were problems with the equipment and oxygen at the medical center, and there were delays in getting the ambulance ready.

This article took me back to when I first came to Bansko. People who had lived in town for a while would say something similar to “Razlog is fine for an x-ray or something simple, but for anything important go to Blagoevgrad or Sofia. It’s just not worth it.” I often wondered whether they were all saying the same thing because everyone else said it, or whether there was an important warning there.

I’m not trying to bash the medical staff at Razlog Hospital or the emergency medical center in Razlog. It’s a small town, and they’re probably doing the best they can with the resources available. But after reading this, the warnings I heard years ago aren’t so easy to dismiss. It’s something to keep in mind if you ever need serious medical treatment, but, of course, if you’re in genuine need of emergency care, it’s all about where’s closest and getting help fast.

Read the news article here [Translation required].

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Inside the Bansko Notice Board Group

✍️ 68 New Posts, 💬 251 Comments, 👍️ 807 Reactions

Will there be snow in Bansko the second week of December?
Liv is coming to Bansko with her 2- and 5-year-olds in the second week of December and wonders whether there will be some snow to make it all Christmasy for the little ones. See what people had to say.

Does anyone know where to get travel vaccinations?
Max is in town and wants to get a couple of vaccinations for travelling (including DTP and typhoid). He wanted to know the best place locally to get them. See where people recommended.

Do the gondola running hours affect the stuff up at Banderishka Polyana?
Tim has seen that the gondola has moved from continuous movement to out-of-season maintenance and wondered whether that meant all summer activities at the top of the gondola were closed too.

Bansko & Beyond

Annual children’s football tournament
The ninth annual children’s football tournament took place this week. Bansko’s Sports Club of Veterans organised it for individuals who studied at a local academic institution during recent years. All participants had great fun, and some walked away with the winning trophy. Read more.

Forest fire brought under control in Bansko municipality
This week, Bansko’s fire department, personnel from the Pirin National Park authority, and teams of volunteers brought a forest fire under control near the village of Osenovo (this is near Mesta, on the way to Gotse Delchev). Unfortunately, 15 hectares were destroyed by the fire before it was brought under control. Read more.

Bansko Mountain Rescue (PSS) help Pirin Ultra participant
This weekend, Pirin Ultra organisers alerted the local mountain rescue service after a participant in one of the ultra marathons failed to finish the race hours after the expected time. The PSS team were dispatched, located the individual, and helped him down the mountain. Read more. [Translation required.]

Other news stories
Here are a handful of other news stories you may find interesting:

• FC Bansko face more tough derbies after 4:0 defeat last week [Translation required]

• Explosion at ammo depot in Bulgaria reported as act of sabotage

• Another new fee (aka tax) on shipments coming into the European Union

• Robbie Williams to headline PHILLGOOD 2027 festival in Plovdiv

• September 9th, 1944 is an important date and why Bulgarians still argue about it (a Soviet-backed coup brought Communists to power)

• Sofia to invest over €350 million to improve transport infrastructure

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Events Next Week

Bansko Street Dogs Pub Quiz
Tomorrow (Monday 14th) is the next BSD pub quiz, where teams come together to compete against each other to win the trophy. This will be back at The Hub this time. Food is available on the night as a burger bar for €10 per person, plus the normal quiz entry fee of €5. Starts at 7.30pm. More info.

Exhibitions at The Tourist Information Center
These run most days from 9am to 12noon and 1pm to 6pm at the Tourist Information Center (near the old tree). A paintings & graphics exhibition called Between Two Worlds (by Ventsislav Zahariev) continues on Monday and Tuesday. Then, from Friday (18th) to Tuesday 22nd, Violeta Laleva displays her painting exhibition (Seasons). This will be the final exhibition of the summer events calendar.

End of Summer Season Party 🥳 
On Friday (18th) in the evening at The Hub, they’re having an end-of-season party that will include live music from the 90s and 2000s, food (including Texas brisket chilli and smoked chicken wings), and line dancing. Want to say goodbye to the summer and have a cracking night? Join them at The Hub. More info.

Chess Festival (Dobrinishte)
On Saturday (19th), from 9am at Hotel Valentino 2 in Dobrinishte, the ninth annual chess tournament will take place. There are multiple age categories, from under 8s to over 65s, with many different awards, medals, and prizes to be won. The format will be the traditional Swiss system of nine rounds. More info.

Horses, Yoga and Unique Sounds
On Saturday (19th) at 6pm at Vukovia Horse Farm in Dobrinishte, join the Stillnes team for some horse-riding followed by yoga and relaxing sounds from Tibetan and crystal singing bowls. Connect with nature and feel at one with your mind and body. More info [scroll down for English.]

Calisthenics with Dimitar Bardarski
On Saturday (19th) at 7pm, join a gymnastics coach with over 15 years of experience and master your body at the Moveo studio on Tsar Samuil Street. The event will cover how to hold yourself, control every movement with precision, and discover the possibilities of strength, mobility, and endurance. More info.

Want to continue that summer festival feeling?
If you still want to take in the culinary delights of Bulgaria over the summer, two festivals a little further afield are on this weekend: The Street Food & Beer Festival in Blagoevgrad on Friday (18th) to Sunday (20th) (more info) and a beer festival in Plovdiv Friday (18th) to Tuesday (22nd) (more info).

Organising an event in or around Bansko? Submit it for consideration here.

Photo of the Week

The bicycle track between Bansko and Razlog is progressing well.

Follow @banskobuzz on Instagram.

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