A 90-year-old Bulgarian doctor continues to work even today in the mountainous villages of Skrat. He has more than 1,500 patients on his books and goes for home visits to patients who are unable to come to his clinic.
Dr. Kiril Apostolov works in Skrat, which is near the border of Greece and North Macedonia.
According to the reports, Dr. Kiril loves his work, but he is ready to retire once someone from the younger generation steps up to help with healthcare in the village.
According to Eurostat data, Bulgaria is facing an ageing medical workforce. In 2023, 54 per cent of practising doctors in Bulgaria were above the age of 55. The average age of doctors in the country is above 61.
Dr. Kiril’s day starts at 7 am every day; he drives around 16 kilometres to his clinic in Skrat from his home in Petrich. On most of the days, his patients are already waiting at the clinic when he arrives.
He starts attending patients at 8 am. His patients mostly comprise people dealing with diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic illnesses.
In the afternoon, Dr. Kiril leaves for home visits around the village of Skrat. He provides home visits to elderly patients who are unable to visit his clinic for treatment.
He also visits the nearby villages of Skrat to see more patients, as there are not many general practitioners available in the area.
Dr. Kiril carries his briefcase and walks on steep paths of the mountainous village just so he can attend to his patients.
Dr. Kiril Apostolov started working in 1962. He worked as a district doctor and also headed a hospital department in Petrich. He later continued to practice cardiology. He was 60 when he moved to Skrat in 2000.
According to the reports, Dr. Kiril said that medicine has evolved throughout his career, but he believes that it can only be learnt through experience.
Dr. Apostolov has clearly mentioned that his work does not weigh him down at the moment and that he will continue to work as long as he feels fine.
Dr. Apostolov has expressed his concern about the young doctors not being willing to come to villages.
According to the OECD, Bulgaria has the EU's lowest life expectancy at 75.8 years, falling well short of the bloc's 81.5-year average.
The country also suffers from some of the highest preventable mortality rates in the region, a crisis driven in part by a severe doctor shortage that delays diagnoses of diseases.
(Rh/ARC/MSM)