I left Slavi – I was against the messages that there is no COVID and everything is a political fraud

Interview with the anesthesiologist – resuscitator Dr. Boris Tablov, who lives and works in Neuruppin, Germany:

In the media environment around the infection there is no debate between experts of different opinions – Associate Professor Mangarov can not speak on all issues, even on … energy

MORE HIGHLIGHTS:

When celebrities repeat, that there is no virus, things only get worse

Wearing masks outdoors is unnecessary – to reduce physical contact between people

Bulgarians have no idea how stricter the measures are outside our country

There is too much policy in COVID and too little audibility

Positive PCR after vaccination is not a drama, the fact is the prevention of severe illness

In 3-4 weeks we should expect even blacker numbers in statistics, and we could have saved them with tougher measures

– Dr. Tablov, you live and work in Germany, but you are very active on Facebook on the topic of the COVID crisis in Bulgaria. There are hundreds of comments below your posts. What provokes you to express an opinion that you are thousands of kilometers away from your homeland?

– It all started in February last year. I watched with interest what was happening in China. It was strange to me at first the discrepancy between the general panic and the number of cases. I started reading and became interested, I started sharing thoughts on Facebook, but then in a closed circle of friends. I love to write and it was like a virtual diary. Over time, I made the messages public and they lived their own lives.

In the beginning, I shared mostly personal thoughts, even quite emotionally on the topic. Over time, many people have started reading them, and this is a form of responsibility, so now I share more professional information. I listen to podcasts by prominent German virologists, read a lot of literature about the virus, argue with friends.

And why Bulgaria? Because my homeland is close to my heart. A large part of my family is still in Bulgaria, still actively working on the first line. My father is an anesthesiologist and is in the COVID ward. My mother is a general practitioner in Plovdiv, my aunt is an obstetrician-gynecologist in Pleven. All three are already of retirement age, but are working. I have many colleagues and friends. I have never stopped my contacts, although I have not lived there for so many years. I follow the situation with great interest.

I am well aware of the weaknesses of our healthcare system and I am saddened by the lack of stricter measures because a system that I believe has not yet been sufficiently reformed is at risk.

– Your comments are quite critical, but you do not stay only in medicine. In one of your last publications, you are arguing with the writer Ivo Siromahov and his post with reflections that our country is heavily polluted with plastic and plastic bags. Why do you sharply criticize his opinion?

– I hope the story does not sound revanchist. The specific reason is that Ivo Siromahov is part of the team of a TV station and the people he works with are part of Slavi Trifonov’s political project. And I was part of this project for a long time and the reason I left the project was exactly the disagreement on the topic of how we should behave in a crisis with the virus.

– To clarify – were you a member of “There is such a people”?

– I was a member of the project called “There is no such country.” I was in Slavi’s project until before the party registered. I was also part of the working group on health care and part of the people who wrote a program on the topic. The rift came precisely because of disagreement with the behavior of the party’s political leadership.

I have nothing personal about the screenwriters and Siromahov. He has repeatedly expressed his personal opinion that we have stopped living out of fear, etc., but he and his colleagues constantly suggest a superficial attitude towards the virus. However, the problem is much more serious. When such popular people as Siromahov, an author with many followers, constantly express a position against a serious problem, it only grows.

I used his opinion about the pollution of the beautiful Bulgarian nature with plastic bags as a parallel to the pollution of the TV air with harmful messages. I have said this in their political project. People who are widely publicized must be clearly aware of the responsibility they bear. It should be clear to them that when you keep saying that there is no problem and everything is a political fabrication, things only get worse. And this against the background of more and more accumulating evidence that things are not negligible.

– When you left Trifonov’s party, did you say your opinion so directly to the leadership?

– I was in charge of the healthcare group. I asked for a meeting with the political leadership and two people from the party leaders were present. I told them exactly that people with great popularity should be clearly aware that there are problems, and they should not belittle it and send the wrong messages, because that affects a large percentage of people who believe in them.

The second thing I said was that if they want the project to be a different form of political platform, they have to rely on constructive, not destructive, messages. To explain what needs to be done in our country, in accordance with the realities in Bulgaria, and how to limit the damage. And I received the support of many colleagues. Then I expressed my position that I totally disagree with the constant broadcasting of messages from 7/8 TV, that there is no coronavirus, that everything is a scam, that it has become a platform for Prof. Chorbanov and Assoc. Prof. Mangarov and colleagues who constantly fiercely oppose the measures. . I explained that this was the specific reason for me to leave the party.

– Prof. Chorbanov and Assoc. Prof. Mangarov are specialists in viruses and immunology. Isn’t it right for the opinion of such specialists to be heard?

– In the whole media environment in Bulgaria in the conditions of the coronary crisis all the time there is something missing – debates with facts between specialists in a studio.

Physicians work with terminology and knowledge that has accumulated over the years. Yes, Assoc. Prof. Mangarov and Prof. Chorbanov are specialists. It was right to have professional debates with those present from the camp of the other opinion, so that people could hear arguments from both sides. Thus, the audience should judge for themselves how adequately one side speaks and how adequately the other side speaks. Otherwise, the rest is a form of manipulation.

– Is this how the debates between medical specialists are conducted in the media in Germany?

– The style and tone are different. Separately, the political trust is greater. Although people are extremely tired and there are protests in Germany, they trust the messages of politicians more.

More than once in TV studios I have watched representatives of different points of view and speak differently. There is no emotional southern, even at times primary imposition of a thesis. In Bulgaria there is not even any audibility for the theses of the other country.

– In Western Europe, are there such outspoken supporters of anti-COVID measures as Prof. Chorbanov and Assoc. Prof. Mangarov?

– Of course. There is a large group of scientists who a month ago came out with a statement that lockdowns are the wrong strategy. According to them, only the risk groups should be protected and the rest should be allowed to contact freely in order to get sick faster and to build group protection. These are the ones of some leading researchers in England and the USA. However, discussions need to be closely monitored. Experts in Germany say there is no way to isolate only high-risk patients because they are in constant contact with younger ones. A year after the start of the pandemic, we see that there are few European countries that can boast of successful crisis control.

– Is COVID-19 a policy already?

“She’s been around ever since she showed up.” There is too much politics, there is too little audibility. Unfortunately, both Assoc. Prof. Mangarov and Prof. Chorbanov from an expert level turned to politics.

The COVID platform also influenced some processes in the presidential elections in America and England. And Germany is now facing elections. To a large extent, the debate is about that again. And here there are formations that are on the thesis that there is no COVID and everything is a scam. However, this is the political dispute in Bulgaria. The parties positioned themselves on the topic of the virus. Everyone in opposition, except one party, is currently claiming that what the government is doing is wrong. There was no virus. See how the ABC campaign is going. The only one who appears in the media is Assoc. Prof. Mangarov – an expert on everything, even energy. Everything in ABC is structured around his aura, and he has long since left the expert level of an infectious disease specialist and pediatric virologist.

– We are in the third wave and everything has been closed again for a week. How do you assess the measures in Bulgaria?

– I am often criticized for being abroad and talking about measures in Bulgaria. I haven’t been home since July last year. That is, for 10 months, I have no first-hand idea of ​​how things are and there is a risk of being accused of speculating.

However, I keep in touch with colleagues and my relatives, doctors. From everything I hear, I have the impression that people have no idea how much stricter the measures are in other places. The measures here are much lighter and allow much more freedom for people.

The third wave could not be stopped in Bulgaria, because this process is observed throughout Europe. However, it could have been more controlled on a smaller scale. In mid-January, we knew that numbers were gaining momentum, we knew about the coming of the more contagious English mutation. After the children were sent to school, the opening of restaurants and malls was clear that it would lead to an increase in the number of infected people. The worst thing is that in 3-4 weeks we should expect even blacker numbers.

I hear from colleagues in health care that things are not good. Doctors are infinitely exhausted mentally and physically. People react to this: “You have to!”, But we are also people. When you are on the pedal for a year, emotionally crushed, finally the body begins to transmit you.

At the same time, we hear from the Minister of Health that everything is under control and we are not in the first place in terms of mortality. I can write “Weak 2” on these grades. It’s like saying that Germany did well in December. It wasn’t good at all! Our resuscitation in Germany was complete for a whole month, so many people died that it was horrible.

I am not saying that Bulgaria is doing the worst in Europe. I’m far from that thought even! But why should we always follow bad examples? Can’t we compete with the good ones?

– Is there a measure we can take now to reduce the incidence?

– The measure is one, regardless of mutations and strains. If we want to reduce the number of infected people, we must reduce the conditions for physical contact between people.

We see that in Burgas they wear masks outdoors, but on this issue the experts are adamant that it makes no sense. Measures must be taken to minimize the possibility of people gathering in groups.

– Have you been vaccinated?

– Yes, I have been vaccinated since January 21

with both doses of Pfizer.

– In a home for the elderly in the village of Opanets, 14 people were infected, who were given 2 doses of Pfizer. How do you explain the infection of fully immunized?

– Positive PCR is not a drama. You have the virus in your body, you can excrete some of it, but if you are not sick, everything is fine. These are not sterilizing vaccines and there is no one on the market to guarantee that you will not become infected. There is a percentage of people in whom the vaccine may not work.

However, being infected does not mean being sick. That is, the main function of the vaccine is complete. The drama is if there is a severe course or death. That’s why we get vaccinated. It is the same with the flu. A person can get sick, but the point is not to go to intensive care. The case still requires analysis by experts in the area, but it is not a worrying and unexpected situation.

CV

l Born in Shumen on July 19, 1979 and is a third generation doctor

l In 2002 he graduated medicine at the Medical University in Pleven

l In 2008 he specialized in anesthesiology and intensive care at the University Hospital in Pleven

l Since 2010 he has lived and worked in Neuruppin, Germany, as an anesthesiologist-resuscitator

l He has qualifications in emergency and intensive care medicine

l Teaches at a local medical institute

– .