Two days ago, the  maintenance of the communication system of single emergency number 112 was discontinued due to the expiry of the contract between the Ministry of Health and the consortium of companies in charge of the system’s maintenance.

Deputy Health Minister Miroslav Nenkov stated that this situation would not be an impediment when dealing with emergencies. He explained what elements will be lost as the maintenance of the 112 emergency number communication system is discontinues:

‘’GPS tracking of ambulances, with the exception of Sofia and Sofia region. In some centres there might not be voice recordings, but 112 has its own voice recording. The worst thing that affects the entire work of the colleagues from the emergency call centres is writing addresses down on paper, which has occurred before this system was introduced, but that will be a temporary thing'', reported BNR.

Miroslav Nenkov stated on Thursday that an invitation to tender will be announced to select a new contractor. The procedure is expected to take around two months.

On the other hand, Lubomir Petrov from ‘’E-Health’’ Consortium, said this morning on bTV  that ‘’Emergency ambulances in the country will not be left without a communication system, call logging and GPS tracking’’, according to bTV.

‘’We changed our mind because we are socially responsible companies - all of us participating in this consortium. In order for Emergency Assistants and citizens to be calm, we decided to continue to maintain the system until a new supplier is selected, "Petrov said.