Brussels, 17/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Union Dental Liaison Committee (EU-DLC) has called for the exclusion of the health sector from the services directive in the internal market. In a letter addressed to EUROPE, the organisation responded to the position of ten professional dental associations on this case (EUROPE 8938). Meeting for the 5th European Dentistry Forum, these organisations had called for their including into the field of application of the future directive.
The EU-DLC considers that the ten organisations organising the forum are not representative of the “majority of European dentists”. It is calling for “the exclusion of the healthcare sector from the scope of the directive unless it is amended significantly”. The draft directive “does not take into account the specific nature of the healthcare sector and that patient safety is not adequately guaranteed”. The EU-DLC affirms that “the Commission has signalled that it would accept the exclusion of health services if this was the will of the European Parliament”.