Coronavirus: EU supports Member States with transport of patients and medical teams

The Commission continues to provide further financial support to Member States through the Mobility Package of the Emergency Support Instrument. The recent support amounts to over €2.9 million and helped the transport of COVID-19 patients and medical teams of Member States. This comes on top of the €170 million already made available for the transport of essential medical items and vaccination related equipment since last year. Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said: “In the last two years, the Emergency Support Instrument has helped patients to move to get treatment and medical teams to assist where they were most needed. The instrument also covered the costs of the transport of vital health equipment. With the help of the Emergency Support Instrument we provided Member States a valuable tool in our joint fight against COVID-19. Through this latest ESI call, we have financed the transportation of patients and medical teams, to help save lives, a true sign of European solidarity. However, every European can contribute to preventing national health care systems getting overwhelmed and getting this pandemic under control. Full vaccination provides the strongest protection there is.” Operations funded recently include the transport of medical teams from Denmark, Israel, Poland and Germany to Romania, and the transport of patients from Romania to Germany, Poland, Austria, Czechia, Denmark and Italy. Operations to support Slovakia also received funding, as part of the country’s efforts against the coronavirus pandemic. Following an application process among EU Member States in November, the operations supported are taking place in November and December 2021.