Imagine you break your leg - and treatment is delayed simply because you injured yourself on the ‘wrong’ side of the border. For a long time, this was the reality: Bavarian and Czech emergency services were not allowed to cross the border. The process was complicated and stressful for the patient. Co-financed by the EU Cohesion Policy, the Bavarian Red Cross Cham District Association and the rescue service in Pilsen are working to ensure that help is available anytime and anywhere - regardless of your nationality and which side of the border you are on.
Ambulance without borders: cross-border harmonisation and digitalisation of emergency rescue between Bavaria and Czechia
- 01 April 2025
Breaking your leg is bad enough but enduring a delay in treatment because you happen to have broken it on the wrong side of the border that separates Bavaria and Czechia is even worse. For a long time, this was the reality in the Czech-Bavarian border region as ambulance were not able to move freely across the border.
What did this mean in practice? A complicated procedure which involved picking up an injured Bavarian patient in Czechia with a Czech ambulance, driving to the nearest border crossing, waiting for the Bavarian ambulance to arrive, loading the Bavarian patient into the Bavarian ambulance, and even taking him/her to a Bavarian hospital.
The solution to this is obvious, right? Ambulances from both sides of the border need to be able to move freely across it and the patient should be treated in the closest hospital. Co-financed through Interreg, the Bavarian Red Cross in Cham, in Bavaria, and the emergency services in Pilsen, in the Czech Republic are making it happen through:
- involvement in drafting the relevant legislation,
- coordinating regular cross-border exercises and seminars and offering cross-border internships for personnel.
- developing of software solutions like an app designed to specifically tackle issues relating to language barriers.
- establishing a cross-border emergency coordination center, that employs both Czech and Bavarian emergency personnel.
What for a long time had been considered impossible in the Czech - Bavarian border region is becoming routine --the patient is picked up by the nearest ambulance and brought to the nearest hospital, independent of nationality.
More information
Project - Cross-border emergency rescue Bavaria/Czech Republic