Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-16-Speech-4-030"
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"en.20060316.5.4-030"2
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"Mr President, good health is always at the top of the European public’s wish list. If Europe can contribute to this, then that is very legitimate, and that is, in fact, what we have to do, for the Treaty requires of us that we guarantee a high level of public health.
I should like to congratulate the rapporteur on the programme. He has been open to the justified wishes of his fellow Members, and the Commission has tabled a sound programme, which Parliament did, however, tweak in a few areas. If I may start with one of those improvements, it is now expressly stipulated that the Member States must cooperate in making the purchase and supply of health care easier.
I come from a border region with university hospitals in Maastricht, Liège and Aachen. Standing on top of the Vaalser Berg – which stands just over 300 m tall, so we Limburgers call it a mountain – you can almost make out the three academic top hospitals. Surely it would make sense, also putting cost before benefit, if those regions joined forces, thus making sure that those top facilities did not grind to a standstill, and costing us all a great deal of money.
I am therefore pleased with the extended programme that included those cross-border options. That is the first point I wanted to make. The second point is about health systems that are under pressure everywhere, partly due to demography and partly because we need more, and also often therefore more expensive, facilities. Every Member State is adapting their care systems. Why do we need to re-invent the wheel everywhere? Why can we not learn from each other? Attention should go to that area too.
With regard to funding, cost must go before benefit. With bird flu, it is not if, but a matter of when. When I see – and Mr Bowis has echoed this sentiment – that the management team in Stockholm for contagious diseases asserts that ‘it cannot function at a time when a disaster of that kind strikes’, then I think we have to draw up fresh agreements with each other, and I hope that is exactly what the Commission will do.
I also believe it to be important that this programme should extend into complementary alternative care and provision, and that more should be done for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and Parkinson’s."@en1
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