A number of 27 health facilities will be provided with new fridges for keeping vaccines by this yearend. According to the Ministry of Health, the old fridges no longer ensure the temperature needed for keeping injectable preparations and should be replaced. The health facilities will cover the purchase costs themselves, IPN reports.

By the end of July, the Centralized Public Procurement in Health Center will stage the tender contest to purchase the 53 fridges needed by the medical institutions. Those that need fridges earmarked the necessary funds for this year. A fridge for keeping the vaccines costs between €600 and €1,000, depending on its volume. In 1994-2001, the fridges were donated by UNICEF and the Governments of Japan and the U.S. Now such donations are no longer made.

The vaccines are kept at temperatures of +2 … +8˚C or -20…-25˚C, depending on the type. According to the National Public Health Center, 70-80% of the institutions of the primary level and 10% of the public health centers need to have the current fridges replaced and to be provided with equipment for permanently monitoring the thermic regime.