A complicated surgery, using the same donor, saved the lives of four people in Bulgaria.

Head of university hospital Lozenets Liubomir Spasov said that similar surgeries were performed rarely. Only several hospitals in the world had taken part in such projects, Novinar newspaper reported.

Doctors did their best to give organs to more than one recipient, using the same donor. Such surgeries were necessary due to the limited number of donors worldwide, Novinar reported.

In Bulgaria, the liver of the donor was transplanted to two patients. Two other patients underwent kidney transplantations. Recipients were aged 4, 26, 51 and 60, Novinar said.

Ginka Kuneva, one of the patients who received organs, said that people in Bulgaria still had mostly negative attitude towards organ donation.

Kuneva said she was thankful to the mother of the donor, who found the strength to agree to the organ donation.

Spasov said that transplantations in Bulgaria were performed in accordance to high standards. According to the doctors all four patients should recover unproblematically.