The infectious disease specialist was about to retire when the pandemic broke out, but decided to stay and be at the forefront of the battle against COVID-19 despite his age.
Infectious disease specialist Maria Bogoeva was about to hang up her uniform and retire from her place in a small provincial hospital in western Bulgaria when the coronavirus pandemic broke out.
A year later, the 82-year-old doctor is still at the forefront of the battle against covid-19 despite her age.
It is one more of the legion of senior doctors battling the “horror” of viruses in Bulgaria’s overflowing health system.
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“My age? I don’t feel it. I want to work. If you saw that I’m not useful, I would leave,” the energetic woman told AFP.
Dr. Bogoeva feels she has no choice but to stay with covid patients at Dupnitsa Municipal Hospital. photo AFP
With her reddish hair, her jewelry and her determined look, she still cares about her appearance despite the “daily stress”.
“Working in the hospital doesn’t mean leaving me,” he admits with a smile.
The poorest member of the European Union suffers from a lack of medical staff as young graduates migrate west in search of better career opportunities.
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That is why Dr. Bogoeva feels that she has no choice but to stay with covid patients at the municipal hospital in Dupnitsa, a municipality of 50,000 inhabitants, located about 60 kilometers west of the capital Sofia.
Staying home doing nothing while being in good health while patients need more than ever their experience is simply “unthinkable,” he says.
A year later, the 82-year-old doctor is still at the forefront of the battle against covid-19 despite her age. photo AFP
“Should I let them die? The hospital didn’t have any other infection specialists, and that’s a health crisis,” he said.
Many of the retired doctors in Bulgaria have made the same decision in the last year, some of them paying with their own lives.
“Natural immunity”
Another colleague of Dr. Bogoeva from the infection department of Dupnitsa Hospital, a doctor 15 years younger than her, feared for her health and retired after the first wave of viruses.
But the octogenarian says she is not afraid to follow even though she wears a simple surgical mask and a blue protector that is disinfected from time to time.
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“I am forbidden to approach patients,” he says, as he waits at the door of a room with patients.
She decides on the treatment to be administered based on the background that the rest of the hospital staff collects.
“I probably have natural immunity since I’ve had a lot of infections throughout my life,” he says, before pointing out that he feels he “shouldn’t be afraid” of the virus.
Bogoeva taking off her protective clothing at the end of her shift in a Covid-19 unit at Doupnitsa Hospital, a municipality of 50.
, 000 inhabitants desperately lacking caregivers. photo AFP
Although he acknowledges that there is something “inexplicable” about this virus and shudders at the “horror of November,” when he saw “more patients die than throughout his career.”
“People in their sixties, we couldn’t save them,” he laments.
The hospital was overflowing, there were patients “waiting in the hallways,” he recalls.
“The ambulances, the family doctors begged us (to admit more patients) but we were overwhelmed.”
“People avoid us”
He appreciates the current respite, with only six patients in his ward, but he knows it won’t last long.
A new wave with the new variants “is definitely coming,” he says before assuring certain, “We’ll fight it!”
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In the small town of Dupnitsa, she and other health workers fighting the virus often arouse more fear than admiration.
“People avoid us, they look at us like we’re aliens,” he says bitterly.
She is one of a legion of older doctors fighting the “horror” of viruses in Bulgaria’s overburdened health system. photo AFP
Right now, Bogoeva is taking refuge in the support of her family, albeit in the distance.
Her son lives in the United States along with her two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren and her husband has moved to Sofia while the situation calms down.
“If you infect me, I won’t hurt anyone,” he concludes.