Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-18-Speech-1-209"
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"en.20070618.19.1-209"2
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".
Madam President, I would like to thank Mr Libicki for taking the initiative of bringing this matter before the House tonight. I welcome also my own opportunity to make a contribution to this debate.
As regards the treatment of people with multiple sclerosis, and indeed the prevention of their marginalisation from society, there is a huge disparity in the way in which people affected by multiple sclerosis are treated across the European Union. Consequently, many thousands of people and their families suffer unnecessarily a poor quality of life. Access to essential drugs, therapies and services, are too often not driven by need, but by where a person happens to reside and whether their government invests sufficiently in those needs. It is a sad fact that it is not always the case of Member States not having the resources to provide such care and services. My own country, Ireland, is a prime example. We have had 10 years of enormous economic growth and wealth, and yet we still have one of the lowest ratios of neurologists to patients among the EU’s wealthy nations. We need more research to advance our understanding of the illness and how best to treat it. Regrettably, in this House we constantly face opposition to such research, particularly embryo stem cell research, which offers the best hope for making advances.
Finally, it is not appropriate to allow a situation to continue in which citizens of the European Union are treated unequally. While I acknowledge that it is primarily a responsibility of the Member States to deliver health care, it is also a responsibility of the European Commission to ensure that equality is applied across the board. I would like to see them sponsoring a ‘race to the top’ in terms of services for people with disabilities generally, but certainly people with multiple sclerosis. I believe publication of the progress being made by Member States signing up to this code of conduct would help drive that race to the top."@en1
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