The third Bulgarian helicopter for providing emergency medical assistance by air is ready for flight and is currently located in the Italian city of Brindisi, the Air Emergency Medical Service said in a Facebook post on April 1.
The helicopter will fly to Thessaloniki when weather conditions are suitable. From there, it is scheduled to land directly at the regional base of HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) in Sliven, southeastern Bulgaria.
It is expected that the third aircraft will arrive by the end of this week, as informed by the Air Emergency Medical Service. To date, the Italian manufacturer "Leonardo" has delivered two helicopters to Bulgaria.
By April 2026, a full system with eight helicopters for emergency medical assistance should be in place, announced Dimcho Dobrev, the Executive Director of "Bulgaria Heli Med Service," in June of last year.
A total of 16 missions have been carried out by the Air Emergency Medical Service teams from January 1 to March 21, 2025. All of them were categorised as the highest urgency triage. Fourteen were secondary missions, from hospital to hospital, and two were primary, from the scene of an incident to a medical facility with the required level of competence. The predominant injuries were due to road traffic accidents, falls from height, workplace accidents, and more.
The youngest patient transported by air was a five-month-old baby, and the oldest was 74 years old.
All missions by the Air Emergency Medical Service were successful, thanks to the coordination and joint efforts of all participants in the process—"Bulgaria Heli Med Service," emergency medical centres, healthcare institutions, and their teams, as stated in the announcement.
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