October 14 (SeeNews) - Croatian shipyards Tehnomont Brodogradiliste and Iskra Brodogradiliste 1 will jointly build six water ambulances under a 76.4 million kuna ($11.8 million/10.2 million euro) deal, partly financed by the European Union, to set up a marine medical emergency fleet in the country, the state-owned Institute of Emergency Medicine said.
Croatia's healthcare ministry and the shipyards signed the deal for the construction of the ships on Wednesday, the institute said on its website.
The six speedboats will be berthed in Zadar, Mali Losinj, Rab, Sibenik, Supetar and Dubrovnik and have to be delivered within two years.
A total of 85% of the value of the project will be provided from the EU under its regional development fund and 15% will be covered by national financing.
So far, emergency medical care services from the mainland to the country's 50 inhabited islands is provided by air.
(1 euro=7.519 Croatian kuna)