Caretaker Health Minister Warns of Risk of Losing Funds for Emergency Helicopter Bases

Acting Health Minister Assoc. Prof. Mihail Okoliyski warned of problems with the bases for emergency helicopters and the risk of losing funds.

Regarding the bases for housing emergency helicopters, the situation is worrying, even scandalous, the acting Minister of Health, Assoc. Prof. Mihail Okoliyski, told journalists. According to him, there is a risk of failure of the investment under the Recovery and Resilience Plan and loss of funds for the bases –  about 6.3 million euros, and for the helicopters – over 80 million euros. 

For some bases there is no building permit, and in one of the places there is not even a secured plot of land, and in reality, two years after the start of this investment under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, the actual construction of the bases has not started and cannot be realized within the real deadlines. Some of the foreseen terrains are in the middle of nowhere, there is even a compromised road to the base in Gabrovnitsa. We have concerns there about how the whole communication will take place effectively, how the transportation of the people working on the ground will take place, how they will be motivated to go to work and where their families will live, he also said.

In the period 2023-2026, when this investment should work and everything should be stitched and synchronized, it is not so, he added.

Yesterday, Assoc. Prof. Okoliyski met with the acting Minister of Transport Korman Ismailov and with the acting Minister of Finance Georgi Klisurski, at which urgent measures were proposed, which provide for the construction of the bases to be removed from the Plan, so that we do not lose the funds for the helicopters, and the bases to be completed with state funding. 

In Bulgaria, eight helicopters for providing emergency air assistance should be delivered, of which five have been delivered so far, one of which is under OP "Regions in Growth", as well as the construction of six permanent operational bases for them. Yesterday, the fifth helicopter arrived, and the remaining three are expected by June this year. Now one helicopter is housed at the base in Sofia, two - in Sliven, one - in Dolna Mitropoliya and one - in Balchik. Medical teams are provided for all aircraft.

Since the arrival of the first helicopter for providing emergency assistance in our country, 202 rescue missions have been carried out, of which 167 are in the regional base in Sofia, and the rest – Sliven, said Dr. Petar Gribnev, Deputy Minister of Health. The pilots are prepared so that they can land with the helicopters on a terrain that is not a platform, the teams are prepared to carry out the transfer and service of a patient in all conditions, he assured. Switching to night flight for providing emergency assistance will probably happen after the third year of training the teams, as shown by the experience of other countries, he added. 

According to Assoc. Prof. Okoliyski, there is a need to provide flight hours for the pilots, as well as to provide replacements for the current pilots, as in the next two years some of the current pilots will retire.