Coronavirus: EC approves more than 20M euro cohesion policy support in Bulgaria
The European Commission said on June 25 that it had adopted the reallocation of more than 20 million euro of cohesion policy funding to strengthen the Bulgarian healthcare sector’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.
“Thanks to this funding, the Bulgarian Ministry of Health purchased new top class medical equipment, life-saving medication and personal protective equipment for health care facilities all over Bulgaria, including more than 377 ventilators, over two million face masks and 177 000 test kits,” the Commission said.
European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, said: “I am glad that the swift action of the Commission and the Bulgarian authorities is supporting the country’s hospitals and health workers in their fight against the pandemic.
“European solidarity is even more important when it contributes to saving people’s lives and protecting those working on the frontlines,” Ferreira said.
Thanks to the exceptional flexibility under the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative (CRII), the unspent resources from the European Regional Development Fund under the 2014-2020 Operational Programme Regions in Growth are redirected towards improving the crisis response capacity of the healthcare system and make it more resilient to similar crises, the Commission said.
Through this programme, the EU has already invested 71 million euro in improving efficiency and accessibility of emergency health care in Bulgaria, thanks to the reconstruction and modernisation of emergency wards across Bulgaria (more than 230 sites) and the purchase of 400 new ambulances, many of which have been used to tackle the emergency, the statement said.
(Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
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