Transplantation medicine

Three-quarters of Bulgarians would seek transplantation when needed, but only one-third would consent to organ donation. This shows a survey conducted at the end of September through 800 interviews, commissioned by the Ministry of Health. The survey was carried out by the sociological agency Alpha Research.

Bulgaria ranks last in the European Union for stem cell transplants, Eurostat reported.

A total of 139 Bulgarians have undergone a similar type of transplant for the year. Only Romania, Malta and Slovenia rank after Bulgaria. No stem cell transplants have been performed in Malta and Slovenia.

The Prosecutor General's Office and the Antimafiots with another strike against organ traffickers.  According to NOVA, four people were detained on the Bulgarian-Turkish border on Tuesday night. Two of them are organizers of a kidney donor recruitment scheme that provided seriously ill Bulgarians with organs.

Austria stops foreigners' lung transplants, and in Vienna, it is the only hospital with which Bulgaria has an agreement for life-saving operations - up to five such procedures a year.

The Ministry of Healthcare has announced that Bulgaria joined the European FOEDUS agreement for cooperation in the sphere or organ transplantation. Currently, its active participants are 10 EU countries, BNR reported.

Most European countries are experiencing difficulties in this area, such as declining number of donors and the shortage of qualified medical staff.

The Parliament tasked Minister of Health Kiril Ananiev with presenting an action plan by April 1, 2019 with concrete steps for Bulgaria to become a member of Eurotransplant. The MPs unanimously approved the proposal from BSP with 144 votes in favour, none against and no abstentions, Focus News Agency reports.

The Treaty of Bulgaria with "Eurotransplant" was canceled but will be extended to 2-3 weeks. This was announced by the Executive Director of the Transplantation Agency Mariana Stoyanova and just a day earlier the Health Ministry announced that "Bulgaria has a contract with Eurotransplant, it is not interrupted and Bulgaria continues to be a member of the organization".

A council of appeals court judges has indicted 15 employees of the KAT hospital in northern Athens, including surgeons and managerial staff, for the alleged systematic overpricing of bone grafts in the period from 2009 to 2011.

The suspects face charges of breach of duty that resulted in 150,000 euros' worth of losses to the state.

Scientists have successfully performed a head transplant on a corpse, and are ready to do it on a living person, according to the man famous for promising it.
Surgeon Sergio Canavero has become famous for claiming to be working on the first human head transplant. And he says that the successful test shows that his plans will work.

Scientists have grown a replacement, genetically modified skin to cover almost the entire body of a seven-year-old Syrian boy who was suffering from a devastating genetic disorder.