Two clowns are to help treatment little children in the first laughter therapy clinic in Europe, which was opened Thursday in Sofia's Pirogov Emergency Institute, local press reported.

The actor Nikolay Nikolaev and his assistant Roko are to entertain the sick youngsters in all seven children's wards in the hospital with a special everyday program, containing tricks and jokes.

"Laugh could really cure. When you smile at an ill child and caress him, his condition improves and you win his confidence," Pirogov nurse Valentina Apostolova explained.

The program is financed by the hospital itself and the Bulgarian Health Ministry.

(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2008)