Cases of aggression are repelled by the medical profession, and especially by work in the emergency room. Serious statesmanship is needed, the feeling of impunity must not progress.

Aggression is not only against Bulgarian medics. Aggression has become a model of behavior and culture in recent times. This requires serious state thinking in many sectors.

This was stated in an interview for BGNES by Galina Zaharieva, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Union of Medical Assistants and Paramedics (BSLAF).

Aggression towards medics in Bulgaria is not a precedent, but a serious problem that has existed in our country for years. Just a week ago, we witnessed another case of aggression when a drunken man attacked the paramedic on duty in the Emergency Medical Aid Branch (EMA) in the building of the Berkovitsa General Hospital.

About what needs to happen in order to prevent such cases in the future, how it explains this aggression towards Bulgarian medics and why it manifests itself, BGNES talked with the Deputy Chairman of BULAF Zaharieva.

“We cannot isolate the doctor’s office from the rest of society,” she said, noting that aggression is ubiquitous, both verbal and physical, and perhaps the feeling of impunity is increasing rather than reducing aggression in society.

Cases of aggression are repelled by the medical profession, and especially by work in the emergency room.

According to her, the medics who work in the emergency services and are on the front line face one of the most unpleasant manifestations of aggression in society.

“When a person is in an emergency, he is also not very adequate. Everyone reacts differently. But anyway, it is part of our daily lives and we have to adapt, we have no other choice," Zaharieva added.

When asked how all this stress affects the medics and whether there is fear in them at work, she replied that it is not a matter of fear, it is rather unpleasant and pushes people away from the profession.

“This is one of the reasons why some of them do not want to work in these jobs,” added BLAF Vice-President.

Serious statesmanship is needed, the feeling of impunity must not progress.

In order to prevent this aggression and to have a lasting improvement of the situation, reforms are required in many sectors of public life, Zaharieva believes.

In particular, she appealed to employers to take measures to secure workplaces – by video surveillance or live security – as the working medics in emergency centres in small towns, especially at night, are alone. This in turn is due to the lack of staff in the system – people in the teams are kept to a minimum and difficult to work with.

“There is one person on shift who works alone and there is a high risk. In general, the medical profession is a risky profession. But at least put video surveillance to make them feel a little bit protected", Zaharieva called, explaining that this acts disciplinary and has been proven to work because when the patient knows they have video surveillance and reacts differently to the situation.

We cannot rely solely on appeals and the conscience of patients - this is the state of society as a whole, added the Vice-President of BULAF.

Punishment is the final stage, Zaharieva believes. She drew attention to the fact that there are regular reports of aggression in the media as early as childhood.

"That is why I say that aggression has become a model of behaviour that requires serious statesmanship in many sectors, both in education and in justice," said the Vice-President of BLAF and called on the media to pay more attention to the prevention of aggression and the upbringing of the young generation.

Zaharieva appealed to the society and to the rulers: “Keep your health professionals, because I was them. Aggression against them will not make things better. We are aware that the personnel crisis in the system is giving rise to a not-so-smooth medical specialist-patient relationship. Most colleagues are overworked, not as patient as they should be, but in such conditions we are all patients and workers. It's hard for everyone.”

Asked what she would say to encourage medics, she urged them not to give up because it's a nice humane profession. “We know that it carries a risk. We know the conditions under which work is done, but I very much hope that the statesmen will understand and make the relevant decisions so as to improve the conditions in the working system, which would also improve the quality of the medical service", said Zaharieva and reiterated that serious reforms in healthcare are needed, because under these working conditions it is not good either for the workers or for the patients.

In conclusion, she added that she strongly hopes that our society will go in a more positive direction and change the pattern of behavior, because we see for ourselves that this does not lead to anything good for anyone. ⁇ BGNES

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