Memorandum of Cooperation between the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Health Provides Additional Medical Assistance on The Black Sea Coast

This year, additional medical teams will be provided along the North and South Black Sea coasts during the active summer season. This is an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Health, together with the local authorities along the Black Sea coast and the academic community in the seaside towns.

To make this happen, today a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the line ministries, Pirogov Hospital and Burgas Region with the municipalities of Sozopol, Primorsko and Tsarevo. The official ceremony of signing the Memorandum was attended by the Minister of Tourism Dr. Ilin Dimitrov, the Minister of Health Dr. Assen Medjidiev, the Governor of Burgas Prof. D.Sc. Maria Neykova, the Executive Director of the Multi-profile Active Treatment & Emergency University Hospital ‘Pirogov’ Dr. Valentin Dimitrov, the mayors of Sozopol — Tihomir Yanakiev, of Primorsko — Dimitar Germanov and of Tsarevo — Eng. Georgi Lapchev and Dr. Georgi Pazderov, Director of the Regional Health Institute Burgas.

The aim is to provide additional teams to ensure even more adequate medical assistance to tourists and Bulgarian citizens during the busy summer season, thus meeting the expectations of tourists who prefer to travel to resorts where there are good conditions, peace and security, including medical service at a high level.

 ‘The safety of tourists and the provision of adequate medical care are fundamental in any tourist service,’ Minister Ilin Dimitrov stressed and added: ‘We cannot talk about tourism without talking about healthcare and here I want to thank Minister Medjidiev who helped us last summer with additional medical teams on the Black Sea coast and now we have a long-term solution. He is a true friend of tourism.’

In recognition of the contribution and the urgent actions taken, Minister Dimitrov awarded his colleague, Dr. Assen Medjidiev, with the symbol of the Ministry of Tourism and Bulgaria — the Golden Rose award.

The Ministry of Health, together with the Ministry of Tourism, managed in a very short period of time to create the necessary organization for the outreach teams of the Emergency Medical Care to start functioning on the territory of the town of Primorsko. This will provide an additional opportunity to provide fast and quality emergency medical care in the Black Sea resorts, which in the active season significantly increase their numbers.

Currently, branches in the towns of Tsarevo and Sozopol have been opened to provide emergency care on the southern Black Sea coast. In order to shorten the arrival time of the ambulances, the Emergency Medical Care Branch in Primorsko, which was opened yesterday, 3 May 2023, by a decision of the Council of Ministers, will have two teams — one mobile and one stationary, which will work around the clock.

The signing of the memorandum today means a joint commitment of the state and local authorities to make maximum efforts to contribute to the development of outpatient medical care on the territory of the municipalities of Tsarevo, Sozopol and Primorsko. The document is also a kind of declaration, which shows that only with the joint efforts of the institutions can the quality of the health services on the Black Sea coast be improved in the active summer season.

The opening of an Emergency Medical Care Branch in the town of Sarnitsa at the Emergency Medical Care Centre — Pazardzhik is also planned.

Providing additional teams was one of the first steps taken by the caretaker cabinet when it took office last summer. At the beginning of August, ten emergency medical teams were dispatched to the Golden Sands resort, Nessebar and Primorsko to assist their colleagues on the Black Sea coast in providing round-the-clock emergency medical care.