The European Commission is making €106.2 million available to Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and Turkey to develop new emergency medical team capacities under rescEU. The aim is to strengthen emergency medical support for populations affected by major natural and man-made disasters.

As part of this project, three emergency medical teams type 2 (EMT2) will be created, which will provide surgical and diagnostic services. In addition, 17 specialist care teams will offer intensive care, burn care, patient transport, advanced diagnostics, maternal and child support, rehabilitation, mental health support, orthopedic treatments, laboratories, oxygen and telecommunications support.

These rescEU capacities will be phased in from 2024, making it possible to respond to a wide range of disaster scenarios. The teams will be able to operate autonomously and support existing national healthcare infrastructures when these cannot deal with a specific emergency situation. This new structure will complement the 15 emergency medical teams that Member States and Participating States have made available to the European Civil Protection Pool to deal with emergencies.

Nikos Andritsos