Extremely kind, caring and smiling, is what patients say about young physician Borislava Popova. And indeed, kindness is the first thing that would give any patient a sense of security. Born in one of Bulgaria’s sunniest towns, Sandanski in the southwest, Borislava would not let her smile leave her even in most critical moments. She is dedicated to the medical profession and feels particularly happy when new life is born in her hands.
“I knew I would go for medicine, because my father is a doctor”, the young physician says. “This has been my dream since childhood. I grew up in this kind of family. My father is an obstetrician and so, I too opted for gynecology. I think that my medical training is very good – we had tough time while at university where the training is at a very high level.”

Borislava graduated the University of Medicine in Sofia in 2000. In 2003 she passed successfully the United States Medical License Examination and obtained the right to practice medicine in the United States. In the course of three months she worked as a volunteer at Resurrection Hospital, Chicago. At the same time she was national advisor at the United Nations for a program promoting the sexual and reproductive health of young people in Southern and Eastern Europe.

“In Chicago I was very disenchanted with the level of medicine. Compared to healthcare in Bulgaria in terms of equipment, they are quite advanced. However in terms of clinical thinking our doctors are at a much higher level. One reason could be that we cannot rely on sophisticated equipment and so Bulgarian doctors have to develop their thinking and read much more. In America they should not necessarily do that and they all have a very narrow specialization while we have to think more openly. Therefore I believe that Bulgarian medicine is at a much higher level than the western one.”

In 2007 Borislava took per specialization in obstetrics and gynecology at Maichin Dom University Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Sofia. The same year she joined the team of Dr Iliya Karagyozov in a private hospital. Despite her tight schedule, in 2008 Dr Popova succeeded in defending a thesis at the World Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons in Delhi, India. In a bid to keep abreast of the latest achievements concerning women’s health, Dr Popova goes for one or two specialized courses abroad a year. Despite some tempting proposals for a job overseas, she does not want to leave Bulgaria. Many of her colleagues have done so because over the last ten years the work of doctors has not been appreciated enough in both moral and material terms. What does this stem from?

“The tragic thing is that medicine is very expensive, and in Bulgaria nobody seems to grasp this obvious fact”, Dr Popova says. “The work of doctors is very expensive while patients here believe they should have medical care free of charge. This is the general view. For a medic to become a doctor proper, they invest at least ten years of their lives. Doctors cannot possibly do it without lifelong learning and when their work is underestimated they naturally go for emigration. Unfortunately I do not know who is going to provide medical care to us in 10 years because both doctors and nurses have been leaving the country in great numbers. There are a few very good doctors in Bulgaria but no one even mentions that. Instead the disappointment of patients with the system of healthcare is a major topic in the media and there is a common fallacy that doctors have turned into merchants. The conditions in Bulgaria are not very good, and so idealists only choose to stay here. The relationship of doctors and patients is very different in different parts of the world. In other countries the patients listen to doctors while sometimes here the doctor has to listen to patients. There is no sound respect for the medical profession. In other countries a patient would not call the doctor anytime they wish. There is hierarchy, respect to the knowledge and skills of doctors. In Bulgaria people do not have trust in doctors. As a result there is deficiency of respect for us. Many things have changed during the years of transition and especially over the last 10 years, including the relations between doctors.”

What is that keeps in Bulgaria a highly-qualified doctor like Dr Borislava Popova?
“I love my profession, the work I do, the place where I work and I cannot figure out how I could live in another country”, she says. “I have my friends here, my colleagues and my family. I could be much better off abroad but in the end not everything boils down to material values. Besides, my major in medicine is very good. Life is born in our hands and this is very rewarding. There is hardly another field of medicine that gives such great joy. There is great exhaustion, colossal responsibility – for two lives in fact. But in the end the result is so wonderful, as new life comes to being”, concludes gynecologist Dr Borislava Popova. 

Translated by Daniela Konstantinova