Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-11-Speech-3-444"
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"en.20090311.39.3-444"2
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"Madam President, more people work in health than any other area. The groups of health workers we instantly think of are doctors, nurses, pharmacists and dentists, who are supported by radiologists, lab technicians, researchers, therapists, biochemists and an army of administrators and staff who keep health services functioning.
This sector is very important. The Commission’s apparent attempts to suppress it with directives, like the Vitamin and Mineral Supplements Directive, further compound this growing gulf between EU policy and people’s everyday health choices.
Finally, I would like to make reference to the third and largest single group of health workers: the family carer. These are the people who care for dependant older people and those with disabilities. We need them more every year, not less. As Europe ages and the number of people with disabilities increases, we cannot take them for granted. The only way we are going to keep these essential carers is if we support them in their work.
Finally, our health force is more important than ever. The Commission is right to say that there are new and re-emerging threats to health, such as communicable diseases. Yet the Commission should also take careful note that every chronic disorder related to the immune system dysfunction is on the increase, for example, asthma, allergy, multiple sclerosis, autism, diabetes, epilepsy, fibromyalgia and many more.
I would advise the Commission to look at every one of these diseases that is on the rise and try to understand what is triggering these epidemics because, allowing them to increase unchecked and to affect more and more people, is both cruel and unsustainable.
There is also a second group of professionals: the herbal physicians, chiropractors, osteopaths, homeopaths and nutritionists who focus on a more natural approach to health.
Lastly, there are the family carers, the largest single group of health workers who labour day and night without pay in the health sphere.
Going back to the first group, in this report, the Commission is concerned that the number of professionals working in mainstream healthcare is not sufficient to meet the needs of the growing demand. The Commission further stresses the need to attract young people to choose these professions. However, in some countries, this is not the problem.
In Ireland last month, 3 500 young people took an exam in the hope of securing one of a few hundred medical school places. Similarly, there will be far more young people applying for nursing, therapies, etc., than our universities are willing to train.
Commissioner, it is not a question of attracting young people. It is a question of allowing them to train. Our secondary students in Ireland are working towards a career in medicine, but it is, unfortunately, made unattainable by a rationing system that is out of touch with demand, which leaves us with severe shortages of qualified professionals.
I know that similar disconnects between training and demand exist in other European countries. I would suggest that, in working to attract young people to this profession, you will only frustrate them until we provide them with the opportunity to gain these skills.
Having not allowed these students to train and thereby creating an artificial shortage, we then, of necessity, bring in medical personnel from third countries – even the poorest countries – leaving their own people without medical help and creating a brain drain.
The second group of health professionals I mentioned, like herbal physicians, were unfortunately completely left out of this report. To leave them out fails to acknowledge the valuable contribution they make in keeping Europeans healthy and is out of touch with the wishes of many Europeans who seek their help."@en1
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