Шаблон:Infobox hospitalDr. Georgi Stranski University Hospital is a major hospital located in Pleven, Bulgaria. It is one of the oldest in the country, as well as the largest in northern Bulgaria.[1]
The hospital was established in 1865, before the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule, as a waqf treatment center under the personal orders of Midhat Pasa.[2] Its first location was on the grounds of the local imaret, and its staff at the time consisted only of a foreign military doctor and two servants. He died in 1869, and was replaced by Dr. Robert Geiser, a Swiss national who was in charge of the hospital until 1877.[2]
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, numerous Russian surgeons were active in the area during the Siege of Plevna. Nikolay Pirogov was among them, and Bulgarian physician Georgi Stranski, a close friend of revolutionary Hristo Botev, was also present. Shortly after the war—in 1879—Stranski became the hospital's first manager, albeit only for a year. The hospital was enlarged and moved to its current location in 1896.[2]
The hospital is known for its robot-assisted surgery using the Da Vinci Surgical System. It is one of only three hospitals in Bulgaria operating the system, the first one to implement it in the country,[3] and the only one with two Da Vinci systems.[4] The robots are used for gynecological, urological and gastrointestinal surgery. Four surgical teams perform up to two robotic surgeries daily.[3]
There is also a social robot that helps patients communicate with doctors when the latter are not physically present using online conference calls.[5]
