"An activity that there is no preparation for. Despite the fatigue and insurmountable losses, the satisfaction of seeing healthy patients at the end and the clinical experience are irreplaceable." This is what Dr. Kaloyan Chilingirov from Shumen - a young and dedicated physician who has been caring for the Covid-19 patients at the Pirogov Hospital in Sofia for two months, although he is an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist, says. He is among the specialists who arrived from other hospitals to help doctors in the busiest wards. The doctor says "the situation in the whole country is now calmer in comparison to November", although: "society has been polarized for some time. Half of the people are wearing masks everywhere, while the other half do not care."

Saving lives and helping people after stepping out of your comfort zone

"All doctors at Pirogov, have been working with this disease since the beginning of the epidemic, as the first case came to our hospital. With the large rise in number of cases in November, there was a huge shortage of doctors and each ward and clinic had to send at least a doctor, nurse and paramedic to enter and work in the Covid-19 ward. We didn't know how long it would last. Initially, we expected it to last two or three weeks, but then it continued by the end of the year. It was a must. This was my personal cause. The first two or three shifts I felt adrenaline from closing the door at home and going to Pirogov. I had never experienced such stress before. There were times when I thought I wouldn't be able to move on, but the work was so intense that I didn't have much time to think. Your only goal is to be able to help people; to be able to cope with the influx of patients arriving around the clock.”

The patients

"We work with living beings who suffer, who are very frightened. Some of these patients do not even believe that they are sick from it, even though they are suffocating. They think this is some kind of media speculation until they really see the complexity of the problem. They also had a lot of questions, sometimes they were rude, but I realize that these people were closed, isolated, with no relatives close to them. I was with them for 12 hours a day, I had no other contacts and we managed to help each other so that we could come back to the surface."

What stays forever in the mind?

"I will not forget the faces of the people we lost. Unfortunately, they were not few despite all our efforts."

From "war against the virus" to the "weapon" - vaccines

According to Dr. Chilingirov, social networks have a serious role in the concerns of citizens about vaccines, as these networks also spread pseudo-scientific information. He gives an example with the information that vaccinated women would not be able to have children after that and asks: "Why is this thing being spread? These myths must be debunked."

“The purpose of vaccination is collective immunization," the doctor, who is going to be vaccinated, says. "Most of the colleagues who have not yet fallen ill will get vaccinated,” young doctor Dr. Kaloyan Chilingirov has told BNR.

Interview by Lachezar Valev, BNR - "Horizont"

Edited by: Elena Karkalanova

English: Alexander Markov