New technologies have been part of our lives for years. The pandemic only served to boost the digital transformation of all branches so they could continue to function. Covid-19 has contributed to the faster digitization of healthcare in Bulgaria, says Assoc. Prof. Polina Mihova, lecturer at the department of Healthcare and Social Work at New Bulgarian University in Sofia. This is one of the conclusions reached by Prof. Mihova and her coworkers after a study spanning three years (2018-2021) among students from six universities in the country on the subject of the willingness of young people in Bulgaria to search and use health information from Internet sources. The study spans two periods – pre-pandemic, involving 683 students, and the time during the pandemic, involving 524 young people.

The results of the study were made public a few days ago, at a public lecture discussing the health literacy of users, and whether telemedicine and remote electronic medical consultations are possible in Bulgaria. 46% of the respondents say they were wont to search for health information online before the outbreak of the pandemic, says Assoc. Prof. Polina Mihova in an interview for BNR-Radio Sofia.

“What really surprised me was that before the coronavirus, 33% of the respondents ruled out online medicine as an option altogether. 26% stated they were prepared to use some version of online consultations, though under quite a few conditions. All that changed dramatically with the outbreak of the world pandemic, and as the second part of the study shows 70% of young people search for health information online, the percentage of respondents who rule out online consolations altogether having dropped to 22%. Another interesting fact is that these young people are definitely not trusting of every website or forum they chance upon online. What they are actually looking for is expert opinion and forums that are well established through the years and which they can trust.”

What young people mostly search for is how to keep their status of healthy people, not how to treat a medical problem that has already occurred. The people who seek out medical information online are mostly from smaller towns and villages where access to medical specialists is harder. 

Assoc. Prof. Polina Mihova says that as the respondents are young, and presumably healthy people, so there has been no drastic increase in their search for health information in the past two years, as is the case with the over 30-year-olds, where interest has doubled and trebled.

“Digitization and transformation of every branch globally is now a fact. In Bulgaria this pandemic has helped speed up digitization and the implementation of new technologies in healthcare. Their aim is to give people who are disadvantaged or destitute, or people who cannot reach medical establishments a chance to obtain some kind of medical care and help remotely. It would be a positive thing if this symbiosis were to be continued in future, with the idea that it will augment the work of the doctors, not take their place,” Assoc. Prof. Mihova says.

Interview by BNR-Radio Sofia

Editing by Vessela Krasteva