EU buys robots for disinfection of 8 Bulgarian hospitals – Europe

Eight Bulgarian hospitals will receive free robots for disinfection of wards for COVID-19, said a source from the European Commission.

This week, the commission delivered the 100th machine to the Baghdasar-Arseni Emergency Hospital in Bucharest, with six more Romanian hospitals receiving their requests.

Last year, the European Commission announced a tender for the production of disinfection robots, as part of the aid for medical institutions that treat patients with COVID-19. The tender was won by a Danish company, which has already provided the devices to 23 countries.

Bulgaria is not yet among them, as the robots are produced in batches, which are distributed according to the receipt of applications, the commission explained in response to an inquiry by Dnevnik. At least eight Bulgarian hospitals are in line waiting for the machines that will facilitate their daily work.

The robots disinfected a standard patient room for 15 minutes using ultraviolet light. The machines provide hospitals with a sterile environment without exposing staff to unnecessary risk, as they are remotely controlled and can operate for up to two hours on a single charge. Cleaning staff operate the robot outside the room to be disinfected so that no health worker is present during the process. The order also includes a clause for staff training and machine maintenance.

Deliveries will continue until the autumn and the goal is to provide 200 robots to EU hospitals treating patients with COVID-19 who have expressed interest in this technology. The application for donations continues, the commission clarified, adding that the conditions for this are as simple as possible, and only an online form is required to apply.

So far, disinfection machines have been donated to hospitals in 23 countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal , Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden and Romania.

The money comes from the European budget through the Emergency Support Instrument, and the devices are supplied by the Danish company UVD robots, which won the tender for emergency orders of the European Commission.

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