The first emergency helipad in our country is now operational

It is used for donor situation

The first emergency helipad is already a fact in Bulgaria. It is located on the territory of the Panagyur General Hospital. The air ambulance landing pad has successfully passed the testing and received a license from the General Directorate of Civil Aviation Administration. Today was the first real situation there. An air ambulance with three doctors from Bucharest landed meters from the entrance to the Emergency Department of the Panagyurishte General Hospital.

“We have a donor situation at the hospital for a 76-year-old patient. Here is the time to express my thanks to the relatives that in this difficult moment they gave their consent. The team came for an hour from Romania. It is extremely important that the organs can be transported in a very short time to the recipient, to the one to whom they will be transplanted, and in this case the role of the helicopter is extremely important for this critical time”, said Doncho Tashkov – donation coordinator in Southern Bulgaria.

The air ambulance landing pad was renovated in 7 months entirely with hospital funds. It will serve the area from Velingrad to Stara Planina, including part of the “Trakia” highway, where serious accidents often occur. According to the financial director Nikolay Gospodinov, the site was built in 2015, as part of the project for a modern medical center. “For the hospital heliport, the procedure started in March and ended on November 15. Machines with a load capacity of about 3.5 tons can land on the site,” he explained. “We cover the regions south of Stara Planina and can provide help to patients in need. At Uni Hospital, we have 20 structures, over 800 personnel. We have two trained medical specialists for air support,” said Gospodinov. By 2025, six more helipads are to be built.

The company, run by the transport minister, will once again take over air ambulances

“At the moment, we have trained two specialists to work with the system for providing emergency medical assistance by air, but we are ready to provide the state institutions with more teams when the actual training begins. We have open seven surgical wards, 13 therapeutic wards and we have an Emergency Department, which is the third level of competence. About 50 people work in it”, said Nikolay Gospodinov – financial director of MBAL “Uni Hospital” – Panagyurishte. Emergency air support will begin in earnest when the first light helicopter arrives from Italy. According to Health Minister Hristo Hinkov, this is expected to happen by the end of December.

However, the regulation on hospital airports does not allow the sites to be used in the dark part of the day. Thus, in reality, helicopters cannot transport patients at night, which according to the doctors is nonsense. Bulgaria expects to receive 6 medical helicopters by 2025. They were purchased with funds under the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

They open the first licensed hospital heliport

The Bulgarian and Romanian team in front of the helicopter. Photo: The general hospital in Panagyurishte

See more in the video.