A regional dental centre fitted with digital CAD/CAM technology, a dental ambulance to reach isolated villages and a telemedicine platform — these are the things the Ungheni District Council says it will bring through the cross-border MedAccess project, funded from EU money, by July 2027.
The project, whose full name is “Quality dental medical services for everyone — a common goal in the Ungheni–Iași region” (code ROMD00043), is led by the Ungheni District Council as lead beneficiary, together with the “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Iași. The total value is 1,181,394.71 euros, of which 678,841.27 euros go to the Ungheni District Council, with an own contribution of 67,884.13 euros. The funding comes through the Interreg VI-A NEXT Romania–Republic of Moldova 2021-2027 programme, and implementation is scheduled between 15 July 2025 and 14 July 2027.
The details were presented by the district at an online event held on 30 June by the TESIM technical-assistance network — “Cross-border health in practice: what difference are projects making on the ground?” — which brought together health projects from five Interreg NEXT programmes. Speaking for the Ungheni District Council were project manager Violeta Petre and Eugenia Savin.
What is meant to reach the people of Ungheni
According to the district administration, MedAccess has three strands. The first concerns the services themselves: expanding and modernising the Ungheni Regional Dental Centre with digital CAD/CAM technologies, a dental office for patients from disadvantaged groups in Iași, run by the partner university, and the purchase of a mobile dental ambulance for isolated villages. The council says the aim is to remove financial and geographic barriers for people with disabilities and remote communities.
The second strand is about staff. The district invokes an “acute crisis” of medical personnel in the public system — it says 82% of Ungheni’s doctors have more than 20 years of experience — and is betting on a telemedicine platform that, the administration says, will keep working after the project ends: for remote consultations and to pass on experience from senior doctors to young specialists. A best-practices guide for treatment protocols is also planned.
The third strand is about people: the district says it wants to slow the departure of young doctors by integrating final-year students and residents into practical internships in Ungheni. The council states that 21% of medical students in Iași come from the Republic of Moldova, and sees in this an argument for building “a professional bridge” between the two banks of the Prut.
For now, these are all project components presented by the district; Triunghi.md has not independently verified the actual stage of the announced equipment and purchases.
The third Ungheni–Iași health project
MedAccess is not the only medical bridge between Ungheni and Iași. The Ungheni Health Centre runs, with the same Iași university and the municipality of Iași, the “PREVENT” project of around 415,000 euros, focused on prevention in family medicine, until April 2027. And the Regional Dental Centre had previously received dental equipment through German funding, via GIZ, under another project. MedAccess, this time led by the District Council and centred on dentistry, adds to this series.
The statement notes that the material was produced with the support of the European Union and that responsibility for its content lies with the Ungheni District Council, not with the structures of the Interreg Programme.