Adrian-Ioan Veștea, Minister of Development, Public Works, and Administration, and Dr. Daniel-Claudiu Maliţa, manager of the Municipal Emergency Clinical Hospital in Timișoara, have today signed the financing contract for the operation of strategic importance “Together we can beat cancer,” funded through the Interreg IPA Romania – Serbia 2021-2027 Programme.

“Through the funding of this project, we will contribute to improving the access of the population in the Romanian-Serbian border region to quality medical services for early cancer diagnosis, as well as innovative treatment methods,” stated the Minister of Development.

The project, with a total budget of 4,999,311.44 Euro, aims to equip four hospitals in the Program’s area (Municipal Emergency Clinical Hospital in Timișoara, County Emergency Hospital in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Kladovo Medical Care Center, and Veliko Gradište Medical Care Center) with state-of-the-art medical equipment and specific supplies to efficiently detect and treat cancer.

Additionally, two oncology centres will be established in Timișoara and Kladovo, and a telemedicine system will be created to connect medical personnel with patients, thereby enhancing the quality of diagnosis and treatment. The project will also provide the necessary technological infrastructure for remote medical staff training, and it will organize discussion forums on cancer incidence, diagnosis, and treatment in the programme area.

The Interreg IPA Romania-Serbia 2021-2027 Programme has a budget of 74.5 million euros and supports three types of projects: operations of strategic importance and large infrastructure, as well as projects selected through competitive calls in the fields of environmental protection and climate change adaptation, healthcare, education, tourism, culture, and border management. These projects will be implemented in the programme area, which includes Timiș, Caraș-Severin, and Mehedinți counties in Romania, as well as six districts in the Republic of Serbia: Severno Banatski, Srednje Banatski, Južno Banatski, Braničevski, Borski, and Podunavski. In the coming period, the process of contracting the selected projects will continue.