Bulgaria’s new medical emergency helicopter team carries out first mission

A team from the Centre for Air Emergency Medical Services carried out its first mission today, using the country’s recently-acquired medical helicopter, the Health Ministry said on June 4.

The medical team – Dr. Vera Ivanova and nurse Georgi Radoev – was deployed in response to a report.

The report was sent to the Centre for Emergency Air Medical Assistance at 7.30am.

The helicopter took off at 8.02am. At 8.45am, it landed to refuel in the town of Gorna Oryahovitsa, from where it took off again at 9.17am.

At 9.42am, the helicopter landed in Shoumen, to transport the patient to Sofia.

The first mission was of the hospital to hospital category, the statement said.

The patient, who is in serious condition, was transported from Shumen Medical Centre to the hospital heliport of St. Catherine Medical Centre. From there he was handed over to a resuscitation team and transported to the Military Medical Academy in Sofia.

The statement said that last year, 100 medical specialists were certified after undergoing physical, medical examinations and training at the base of the Military Medical Academy.

Recruitment was then carried out and six medical teams were formed.

On May 29 2024, the additional training of the medical teams to work with the medical equipment on board the helicopter was completed.

After all the necessary preparatory and training events, the medical staff was absolutely ready to carry out missions, and duty teams were created.

The necessary integration with the 112 System has also been carried out, and there have been test sessions on responding to reports.

(Photo: Health Ministry)

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