Promoting health on successful grounds: Enhancing hospitals' cooperation on emergencies

MediciNet II project is the follow-up of the succesful cross-border project entitled "MediciNet: Enhancement of cooperation between Komotini's and Kardjali's hospitals and medical staff for their best response in case of emergency issues focusing on car accidents", implemented under the 2nd Call for Proposals of the ETCP Greece-Bulgaria 2007-2013. Having been evaluated as a “Best Practice” project by the MA of ETC Programs and also been selected by the Ministry of Health as the Greek candidate for "The State of Kuwait Prize for Research in Health Promotion" and the "United Arab Emirates Health Foundation Prize" WHO 2015's awards, both partners considered high priority the continuance of Medicinet. It should be noted that, although both hospitals benefited through their participation in the first project, they still face important day-to-day problems due to insufficient or old medical infrastructure and equipment. 

For the time being, both hospitals cannot face efficiently important emergency situations, so the common practice is the transportation of these incidents in bigger and more centralized hospital units. Considering though that the territorial responsibility of the two hospitals covers a total population of 264.847,00 people, in an area characterized by the intense complexity of each population including Pomak, Roma, immigrants etc, their substantial and immediate renovation and re-equipping is more than a necessity. At the same time, both hospitals consider this new call as an excellent opportunity to continue working together at local & cross-border level aiming to the provision of high quality health services at the local population, overpassing geographical & socio-economical obstacles in daily practice. The MediciNet II Project aims to improve the effectiveness of the health care system as a whole by improving the existing and setting up new emergency service capabilities, in order to be able to encounter emergencies occurring in the area.

Among the main outputs of the project are included the supply of medical equipment for the total renovation of the surgery department at Komotini, the supply of specific medical equipment for the Hospital of Kardzhali that also focuses on emergency and primary needs, as well as the development of WEB and mobile device applications that will enable remote access to patient electronic medical record, providing GPs in remote areas access to patient medical records.

Finally, the originality and the added value of the project is identified in the development and use of new technologies in favor of patients located in remote and disadvantaged areas, contributing also to the improvement of the effectiveness of the health care system as a whole. This fact in combination with the new improved medical infrastructure & services developed within the project, will ensure a better quality of life to citizens of the cross-border area, enhancing the feeling of security for them & their families.