Only in Bulgaria: Children’s Fractures Treated with Pizza Cardboard

In Razlog, medical staff faced two unusual cases within a single week, where broken limbs of young children were immobilized using cardboard instead of proper splints, BNT reports.

The first incident involved a 6-year-old girl injured on a ski slope in Bansko during a children’s camp. While learning to ski under the supervision of a professional instructor, the girl suffered a leg fracture. Camp educators immediately took her to the Razlog Emergency Department. Upon examination, doctors confirmed a fracture without dislocation and advised her parents to transfer her to “Pirogov” Hospital in Sofia for proper treatment.

For the transport, instead of using a standard medical splint, the child’s leg was stabilized with a pizza carton, cotton, and gauze. The emergency department noted that a Kramer splint was available but considered it too large and rigid for a child’s limb. The staff offered to procure a child-specific splint from a specialized store, but the parents declined. At “Pirogov,” doctors applied a plaster cast, and the girl is now recovering, though her leg will remain immobilized for over a month.

A second, similar case involved a 3-year-old child in the same Razlog emergency department, who was also fitted with an improvised cardboard splint for a fractured limb.

Source: BNT