EAMS Holds Nationwide Training for Organ Donation Coordinators
Executive Agency “Medical Supervision” (EAMS) held the first of a planned series of training sessions on organ donation for physicians and nurses. Almost 40 specialists from across Bulgaria attended the specialised seminar designed to upgrade healthcare professionals’ qualifications, knowledge and skills in the area of transplantation.
EAMS had invited a special guest lector to the seminar – Dr. Chloe Baleste, International Cooperation and Development Director at the Donation and Transplantation Institute and associate professor at the Department of Surgery of the Medical School of the University of Barcelona. Dr. Baleste shared the Spanish experience in terms of successful approaches to communication with the family of a brain dead patient. Spain is the leading EU country in number of transplanted patients.
The deputy Minister of Health, Ms. Zheni Nacheva, officially opened the training. She shared the Ministry’s vision for the development of transplantation and promotion of organ donation in Bulgaria. At the opening ceremony, attendants were also addressed by the director general of the Bulgarian Red Cross, Dr. Krasimir Gigov, and by Dr. Neli Gesheva, a member of the Board of Directors of the Bulgarian Medical Association.
Holding regular trainings, including with participating foreign speakers, is one of the measures the Agency plans on implementing to improve the organ donation and transplantation system.
In early June, Bulgaria, via EAMS, joined the cooperation agreement for the FOEDUS EOEO IT portal funded by the European Commission. The portal is intended to create a framework for quick and effective information exchange between the countries who are parties to the agreement in cases of surplus organs or demand for organs for patients in life-threatening states. The news was announced by Rosen Ivanov, executive director of EAMS, at the opening of the training.