Improving the level of cooperation of two cross-border hospitals in the field of gastroenterology

The project partners - Regional Hospital in Lučenec (SR) and the Szent Lázár County Hospital in Salgotarján (HU) - are located in the Slovak-Hungarian border region. Distance between them are less than 40 km. Main objective of the project was to improve the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal tract diseases in the target area of Banská Bystrica and Nógrád region.
Before the project had started, there was a lack of specialized clinics in the field of gastroenterology and a high number of patients whose diagnosis required gastroenterological examination.
Through the implementation of the project, new technologies – 2 Videoendoscopic gastroenterology set, 1 automatic disinfector and IT background set - were procured that enabled faster diagnosis, which contributed to better availability of healthcare services, and through the implementation of professional workshops, the professional capacity of hospital staff on both sides of the cross-border territory was increased.  The realized workshops contributed to the availability of cross-border education through the exchange of professional knowledge and experience of a foreign partner. Professional personnel from Hungary were educated in Slovakia, and on the contrary, personnel from Slovakia were educated in Hungary.
Cross-border cooperation of hospitals has possitive affect to the development of professional capacities, exchange of experience and implementation of the latest knowledge in practice in the field of gastroenterology. The implementation of the project contributed to the development of cross-border healthcare at the regional and local level, the end user of which is the patient.