“There is no doubt that the Member States generally welcome what is set out in Mario Draghi’s report, which should facilitate the modernisation of healthcare systems in Europe”, declared Hungarian Secretary of State for Health Péter Takács after the debate by European health ministers on Tuesday 3 December in Brussels on the European Health Union and the progress to be made in this area.
According to the current president of the EU Council, “many Member States” have indicated that there are different levels depending on one another, such as the competitiveness of the sector and the need to preserve patients’ health and innovate at the same time.
Several delegations considered it important to “exploit the full potential of dematerialisation” in order to implement Mr Draghi’s recommendations. According to Péter Takács, certain guarantees will have to be provided regarding the use of health data, particularly in regard to using artificial intelligence. He also indicated the need to support clinical trials and assess health technologies. “We need to strengthen industrial manufacturing capacity and guarantee the competitiveness of the pharmaceutical industry”, added the Hungarian official, who also mentioned the need to diversify production chains, particularly for medical devices. The countries discussed the importance of the future law on biotechnologies and critical medicines. “There’s a lot of work to do”, stressed Péter Takács.
France also mentioned the work to be done on cyber security in hospitals and data storage on European soil, as well as the future legislation on critical medicines and biotech. The Czech Republic emphasised access to medicines and incentives to voluntarily transfer pharmaceutical production to Europe. Germany emphasised the pharmaceutical sector’s competitiveness in particular, and welcomed the upcoming legislation on biotech and critical medicines.
Poland criticised the “administrative and tax barriers” that are keeping investors away from the European market.
For Olivér Várhelyi, European Commissioner for health and animal welfare, competition in the pharmaceuticals sector is fierce and the EU must “step up a gear”. He said that the European Commission’s goals over the next 5 years are ambitious (critical medicines, biotechnologies, medical devices, etc.) (see EUROPE 13519/3).
In addition, the EU Council adopted conclusions (https://aeur.eu/f/emh ) on cardiovascular disease, in which it insists that particular attention be paid to preventive measures such as improving health knowledge, raising awareness of cardiovascular health and discouraging unhealthy lifestyle choices (smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, unbalanced diet, etc.). The EU Council also calls on Member States to ensure equal access to cardiovascular healthcare, to include screening in regular health checks and to step up training for healthcare professionals. The EU Council also approved conclusions (https://aeur.eu/f/elg ) on improving organ donation and organ transplantation. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)