Cross-border Cooperation in Healthcare between the Hospitals of Balassagyarmat and Veľký Krtíš

Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) are the number 1 cause of death globally. More people die from CVDs than from any other cause. Based on WHO data, an estimated 17.9 million people die from CVDs annually, representing 31% of all global death tolls. Of these deaths, 85% are due to heart attack and stroke, one in three occurring before the age of 70. Risk factors are at a high level in Member States of the European Union, though unevenly balanced, predominantly in new Member States, hence are urgent to tackle.

The proposed collaborative project seeks to optimise health care capacities by establishing cross-border cooperation in medical services provided by the hospitals of Balassagyarmat, operated by the proprietor NHSC, and Veľký Krtíš as cornerstone intuitions.  In substance, it will address the improvement of delivery of specific treatment provided to cardiology and neurology patients by investing into medical infrastructure, implementing cross-border knowledge transfer and pooling the improved infrastructural and knowledge resources together in order to create a cross-border medical consultation and diagnostic mechanism, which will serve as the framework for a faster and more efficient provision of health services delivered to the local population on both sides of the border. The project capitalizes on existing capabilities of both hospitals, which currently operate in separation, therefore function at a lower level of medical efficiency than under the prospective circumstances to be achieved by investing into, and ultimately making them suitable for cross-border sharing. 

Shared capacities will yield optimalisation, thus better access to health care by patients, provision of higher quality treatment, significantly faster delivery of treatment, which are life-saving factors when it comes to acute interventions. From an institutional perspective, the improvement of cost-efficiency  is also envisaged beyond the aforementioned benefits to be enjoyed by patients.