Assoc. Prof. Kornovski told ’24 hours’: The huge trust and appreciation of patients, families and the public and the low in-hospital mortality rate in a record volume of major cardiac surgery are my big reward in 2023

 – Assoc. Prof. Kornovski, according to the data of the National Health Insurance Fund ‘Heart and Brain’ is the leader in major cardiac surgery interventions and the first choice of patients and cardiologists in the country for 2022. What will the data show for 2023?

– More of the same (laughs)! Of course, I don’t know exactly before the data is officially published, and I am only referring to the record workload of the excellent cardiac surgery clinics in Pleven and Burgas. We were individually in the top 2-3 clinics for major cardiac surgery interventions and we have probably retained the lead in the 2023. Probably also and especially our clinic in Burgas is also a national leader in minimally invasive cardiac surgery, which is very patient-friendly and is widely preferred in the advanced world.

– In the Burgas competition, you were nominated for “Person of the Year 2023” with the words, “The world-class cardiac surgeon who chose Burgas over Switzerland and every other place in the world to save our hearts”. What kept you in your homeland, what unlocked this immense motivation and generated this strong national impact? We also noticed that in the public vote you led convincingly in the competition.

– Undoubtedly, there is no more impartial and accurate testimonial to the professionalism of the teams of the modern hospital complexes in Burgas and Pleven than the statistics of the National Health Insurance Fund and especially the data on in-hospital mortality in major cardiac surgery. As the head of the cardiac surgery clinic in Burgas, I am extremely proud of the results achieved and the trust gained. I often work together in person or in telemedicine consultation with my very talented colleague Dr. Yordan Krasnaliev, head of the cardiac surgery clinic at Heart and Brain Pleven. He and I have many collective and team reasons to be proud and motivated, but working together in February 2023 in Pleven and Burgas under the critical inspection of the world renowned prof. Thierry Carrel was a great ‘injection’ to our confidence and performance over the past year.