EC to Provide EUR 85 Mln for Bulgaria's Emergency Medical Aid Service

Rousse, on the Danube, February 8 (BTA) - The European
Commission will provide 85 million euro for a project to upgrade
the emergency medical aid service in Bulgaria, Health Minister
Peter Moskov told a news conference on Sunday. The negotiations
with the Commission have been completed and only some details
remain to be sorted out, Moskov said.

The money will be used to buy new ambulances and renovate
emergency aid centres, which will become active medical units
providing diagnosis and in-patient care for up to 24 hours in
each case. Emergency reception offices in hospitals will also be
upgraded, Moskov said.

When the project is carried out until 2020, all of Bulgaria's 7
million population will have access to emergency medical aid,
compared with just 3 million at present. Ambulances will get to
any patient for no more than 30 minutes, he said.

As pay rates have increased and post-graduate training has been
reformed, emergency medical aid has become an attractive
profession. In Sofia alone, 10 new doctors have applied for jobs
in the system, the Minister said.

While in Rousse, Moskov also discussed blood donation. This
year, the Health Ministry can use 30 per cent more funding for
blood donation services, but even that is not enough. Instead of
encouraging the donation of blood for payment, the authorities
should focus on instilling a sense of solidarity in blood
donors, he said.