The National Medical Awards 2015 aim to give recognition to doctors, hospitals, clinics and teams with proven significant achievements in medicine. This year's Lifetime Achievement Award went to the doyen of Bulgarian cardiologists, Professor Mladen Grigorov. He has headed a number of cardiologic hospitals in Bulgaria. He proudly told us about the first doctor in his family - his grandfather, who graduated in medicine in Montpellier, France, more than 100 years ago. Later the father of professor Grigorov graduated in Strasbourg, France. There the love between his parents sparked, so Prof. Grigorov jokingly says he is a "product of this Strasbourg love." His son and grandson also followed the family tradition to become doctors. We asked professor Grigorov about his feelings upon receiving the award

"People enjoy receiving recognition, especially when recognition and respect have become something deficient not only in Bulgaria but in the whole world. When you're 78-years-old with more than half a century of medical practice, this gives you real pleasure."

Prof. Grigorov is one of the founders of invasive surgery in Bulgaria. According to him, invasive procedures are a progress in medicine because, modern diagnosis and treatment can not be obtained "without checking the heart, lungs, or stomach'. The great strength of invasive cardiology is seen with patients with ischemic heart disease, where surgery provides not only diagnosis but also treatment. The winner of this year's National Medical Award is the first specialists in Bulgaria who performed cardiac catheterization.

We asked him if Bulgarians suffer from more diseases in comparison to other nations.

"According to me, we are equally healthy in comparison to the average European. Keeping in mind genetics the Bulgarian nation is perhaps healthier. But according to the WHO, "health" means full well-being including physical, mental and social health. Assuming that our bodies are well, we can not say the same about our social status and our psychology affected by it. But this is not just a Bulgarian problem. Recently some scandalous data have been reported. Some one billion people live well or fairly well, but six billion live in bad or very bad conditions. 1% of the world’s population controls 50% of the financial resources. The gap has been widening and this leads to higher morbidity, as well as social and political problems that are now creating the refugee wave. In Bulgaria 67% of mortality is determined by heart diseases, while in the rest of the well-developed European countries and the United States the rate is below 50%. This is not a small difference. The problem lies in zero preventive care, the big mess in pre-hospital care, the frequent transfers of patients, and draining of the Health Fund. One can speak of the healthcare in a country when knowing about the level of mortality and the number of hospitalizations. We cannot have high mortality rate and growing number of hospitalizations and speak about successful reforms. Reforms should focus on preventive care and improving the health culture of the citizens.”

We received several valuable health tips from the professor - move more; use the elevator rarely and do not forget that there were people before us and that there will be people after us. Prof. Mladen Grigorov also quoted a thought by Ovid: "Remember achievements." He says we should enjoy the small things in life as this relieves stress and it is stress that causes the biggest harm to human health.

English: Alexander Markov