EU health policy focuses on providing equal access to modern and efficient healthcare for all Europeans. Also, the European Union and its Member States set aside considerable funds to help other countries to build up and modernize their health care systems and resources.

This project is funded under the Bulgarian Official Development Assistance (ODA) 2021, with the aim of strengthening universal health coverage and access to better health services in the Municipality of Žabljak.

Žabljak is a tourist place which does not have a hospital, but only a health station that provides primary health care. This means that in all other cases patients must be transported to other towns in Montenegro. Therefore, a fast and equipped medical vehicle is the number one necessity.

Prior to this project, the Health Station in Žabljak had only one medical vehicle at its disposal. Thanks to the financial assistance provided by the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria through the Bulgarian ODA 2021, the Municipality of Žabljak was able to procure its second medical vehicle (ambulance) with full equipment. It has an ECG monitor, defibrillator, nebulizer, manometer, pulse oximeter, stethoscopes, spine immobilization board, consumables for these devices, etc.

With the procurement of this fully-equiped medical vehicle the capacity of the local Health Station to provide adequate healthcare services has been doubled. In other words, this project has contributed to the improvement of the healthcare service in Žabljak. Additionally, through this project the Municipality of Žabljak has learned valuable lessons and received know-how when it comes to applying for grants.

The project ended in July 2021.

More about the Mid-term Programme of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the period 2020-2024.

The Bulgarian Official Development Assistance (ODA) is an important tool for promoting sustainable growth of developing countries.  In programming and implementing its development assistance in the Western Balkans, Bulgaria seeks synergies with the EU, EU Member States and other donors, paying particular attention to the interaction on the ground. More precisely, there are four objectives of the Bulgarian ODA for the Western Balkans region:

• Consolidation of the rule of law, public sector reform, local capacity building, protection and promotion of human rights paying particular attention to women, children, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups;
• Enhancement of the quality of education, including through an improvement of the educational infrastructure;
• Enhancement of the quality of healthcare, including through an improvement of the infrastructure and of the pandemic response preparedness;
• Sustainable economic development and support for sustainable employment, support to the business in implementing the EU standards, mitigation of the adverse socio-economic effects of COVID-19.