Simeon Saxe-Coburg and his spouse Margarita opened on May 4 2012 a new heating and insulation system at the Tsar Ferdinand Hospital for Pulmonary Diseases in Iskrets, a village in western Bulgaria, a project implemented thanks to the Embassy of the Sovereign Order of Malta in Sofia and the Nando Peretti Foundation.
The new system of gas heating is accompanied by insulation of the building, an energy-saving measure.
According to a media statement, Saxe-Coburg thanked the generous donors, who for years had provided fuel for the outmoded heating system and now had made it possible to use the most modern heating system, making available hot water to patients and staff at any time.
The ambassador of the Sovereign Order of Malta, Camillo Zuccoli, presented the director of the hospital, Lyudmila Todorova, the documents for the new system, and emphasised the importance in terms of health and social care that the hospital, modern for its times, had represented when it was opened by Ferdinand I in 1908.
Zuccoli described Ferdinand as the creator of a modern Bulgaria in social, health and educational infrastructure.
Todorova, the media statement said, expressed the deep gratitude of patients, doctors and staff to Saxe-Coburg, his wife and the Sovereign Order of Malta for their continuous help and support that has enabled the hospital to carry on offering indispensable assistance to those with lung diseases.
The funding is provided under the foreign military sales programme of the US army's Program Executive Office of Simulation, Training and Instrumentation.
According to the law's provisions, the commission will have the power to investigate individuals without prior notification and would not require a criminal conviction in order to launch an investigation.