NHIF Arranges Treatment Abroad for Three Critically Ill Children in Two Days.

The National Health Insurance Fund approved within two days the treatment of three children in need of urgent highly specialised treatment abroad — a stem cell transplant in Germany and liver transplants in medical facilities in Germany and Italy.

Thanks to coordination between several institutions and a series of urgent humanitarian flights by the C-27J Spartan military transport aircraft, the children will have a chance to receive treatment in specialised clinics in Germany and Italy.

Two of the children will be treated in Germany — one through a stem cell transplant and the other through a liver transplant. The third patient will be transported to Italy, where a liver transplant is also planned.

The Health Insurance Fund noted that, given the children’s serious health condition and the immediate risk to their lives, it was necessary to organise their medical transport to the respective medical facilities within an extremely short timeframe.

For this purpose, the use of the Bulgarian Air Force’s medical aviation was secured, along with escort by specialised medical teams and subsequent specialised ground medical transport from the airports in Germany and Italy to the hospitals where the treatment will be carried out.

At the same time, the C-27J Spartan military transport aircraft is carrying out a series of three consecutive humanitarian missions to transport children in need of treatment abroad.

According to doctors, the best chance for successful treatment for one of the children is a transplant in Germany, as no suitable donor was found within the family and German specialists have significant experience in performing transplants from unrelated donors.

The child suffers from acquired aplastic anaemia, a serious condition in which the bone marrow stops producing blood cells.

On July 18 and 19, the annual charity tournament Football with a Cause will be held in Sofia. The initiative aims to support the treatment of 4-year-old Boyan Andonov, who suffers from a rare disease and needs more than800,000 for treatment abroad — an amount beyond his family’s means.