Slovakia Provides Evacuation Flight to Ireland for Child Patients from Palestine

Bratislava/Dublin, December 20 (TASR) - Slovakia has provided, via the Interior Ministry's crisis management section, an evacuation flight from Egypt to Ireland for 25 Palestinian child patients from the Gaza Strip, the Interior Ministry's press department informed TASR on Friday. Slovakia mediated the flight at the request of Ireland, which will provide the patients with medical care. Members of the Association of Slovak Samaritans provided psychological and medical treatment to the child patients during the evacuation. Its deputy was the commander of the whole operation at the same time. The Interior Ministry had to meet several conditions - by timely submitting the patients' medical documents for assessment by the rescue team doctors and by providing the necessary travel documents for all passengers before the flight. According to the ministry, the key was the precise timing of the individual points of the operation until the government aircraft landed in Slovakia. The Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry was involved in the operation as well, arranging fly-over and landing permits. The flight was carried out as part of the EU civil protection mechanism, with up to 75 percent of the expenditures to be reimbursed from EU funds. According to the ministry, this operation shows that Slovakia is ready and able to respond to international humanitarian challenges in a highly professional manner. ko/df