A new measure allocates BGN 129 million from the OPRG to fight COVID-19 and restore and resilience of the health system in pandemic crises

The Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works will provide BGN 129.3 million through the Operational Programme "Regions in Growth" 2014-2020 to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the country and to create resilience of the health system when dealing with pandemic crises.  The funds are provided from the total financial resources allocated to Bulgaria under the new EU instrument - REACT-EU, and for this purpose a new Priority Axis - 9 "Strengthening the health system for a better crisis response - is created in the OPRR.  The decision was taken at an online meeting of the Operational Programme Monitoring Committee, chaired by the Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works and Head of the Managing Authority Denitsa Nikolova.  Rachel Beaumont, Deputy Head of the Department for Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia at the European Commission, and Jo Govaerts from DG Regional and Urban Policy at the European Commission also took part.

The funds will finance projects of the Ministry of Health, which as a beneficiary will work in partnership with municipalities or municipal health facilities to implement adequate measures in an emergency epidemic situation.  Among the projects to be supported are the establishment of coronavirus treatment sectors with the necessary medical and hospital equipment.  "Our goal is to achieve a complete and total modernisation of the units for the treatment of COVID-19 patients," said Deputy Minister Nikolova.  

The new priority axis will also finance measures to increase the capacity of the transfusion haematology centres in Sofia and Varna for the diagnosis of COVID-19.  In addition to coronavirus tests, the two centres will be supplied with equipment for extracting blood plasma, which is used to treat patients affected by the virus.

In the last year, the Ministry of Regional Development and Regional Development redirected BGN 40.4 million.  OPRG to the Ministry of Health to provide the most needed medical equipment and supplies to fight coronavirus in the country.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister Nikolova also presented information on the progress and the current status of OP "Regions in Growth" 2014-2020. To date, the programme has been implemented at 97.4%, projects have been contracted for over 100% of the total budget, which is BGN 3.1 billion, 62% of the funds have been disbursed, and the confirmed and disbursed funds from the EC are 43%. In the pandemic, 126 contracts for BGN 400 million were concluded in the last year alone.  "The programme is being implemented at an accelerated pace, there are no risks of loss of funds or non-implementation of contracts," said Deputy Minister Nikolova.  The Managing Authority has also introduced 100% e-servicing, which facilitates the beneficiaries as much as possible.

Rachel Beaumont welcomed the good progress of the OP Regions in Growth 2014-2020 and indicated that there was no risk of non-implementation of its activities and no threats or problems associated with its work.