Austrian ambulance teams will intervene in Hungary and Slovakia starting from August.
Starting from August, Austrian rescue teams will also be able to intervene in Hungary and Slovakia, and vice versa, thanks to two new agreements unanimously approved by the Austrian National Council on July 10. The aim of these agreements is to ensure that medical assistance reaches the injured quickly, regardless of where the incident occurs, whether in Austria, Hungary, or Slovakia. This cooperation will allow for the transfer of patients to the nearest medical facility even if it is in a neighboring country.
The agreements precisely regulate the details of interventions in border areas. According to the Austrian Parliament, the agreement with Slovakia includes the autonomous regions of Bratislava and Trnava, as well as the Austrian states of Niederösterreich, Burgenland, and Wien. The agreement stipulates a temporary suspension of the obligation to present identification during cross-border interventions, and ambulances are allowed to use their usual light and sound signals in the neighboring country. However, no cross-border intervention will be carried out without a request from the relevant rescue center.
This cooperation is not the first of its kind, as a similar agreement was signed with the Czech Republic in 2016, which served as a model for these new agreements with Hungary and Slovakia.
According to ORF Niederösterreich, this cooperation has been planned for a long time, but natural disasters and national elections delayed its implementation. These agreements are expected to actually start during this August.
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