Bulgaria's interior ministry plans to put defibrillators in all patrol cars next year, and officers will be trained to use them, interior minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said.

He announced the plan at St Ivan Rilski University Hospital in Sofia, where the two ministers and more than 40 Sofia police officers gave blood.

Demerdzhiev said the step should have been taken long ago and the ministry is now ready for it. Police are the first to arrive at an incident or when someone is in trouble, so they must be able to save lives anywhere, he said.

The devices work on their own and need no special training or medical knowledge, but officers will still be trained. The ministry is also training paramedics, who volunteer for the role.

Giving blood will not be a one-off, the minister said. The next drive will be in Ruse, and later a mobile station will be set up outside the interior ministry. The aim is to make it a regular practice, with the ministry helping the health ministry.

"It is not hard to give a bag of blood, but for someone else it can save a life," Demerdzhiev said. He said police must help and serve people, and today was a chance to show that in practice.

Health minister Ivkova urged people to give blood and said she hoped they would follow the ministers' example. "Every drop of blood gives life," she said.

Bulgaria has 6 transfusion haematology centres, plus one more department attached to them. Ivkova said they are easy to reach, and mobile collection points will give more chances to save lives.

Asked whether the points would be a one-time campaign or permanent, she said they are starting with a personal example and more could follow.