Brussels, 23/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - Commissioners Markos Kyprianou, (Health and Consumer Protection) and Viviane Reding (Information Society and Media), are calling on governments and the private sector to make better use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in Europe's healthcare systems. Health ministers and IT experts from across Europe are due to meet in the Norwegian town of Tromso on 23 and 24 May to debate how the potential of “eHealth” can be realised. The event is jointly organised by the Commission, Luxembourg Presidency and the Norwegian government and encompasses an exhibition of best practices in healthcare from across Europe. Markos Kyprianou, said “eHealth can empower patients and improve healthcare. Even more importantly, by reducing the scope for medical errors, it can save lives”. The Commissioner is calling on health ministers, technology providers, patient groups and health NGOs to release the full potential of e-Health in Europe. Viviane Reding stressed improvements in healthcare through electronic innovation and explained that, “electronic medical records can help doctors to diagnose illness and prescribe treatments more accurately, thus reducing medical errors”. She also highlighted the opportunities offered by new technology in rationalising spending and pointed out that “It also means cutting down paperwork to improve efficiency. Electronic patient referrals in Denmark are saving €1 million a year and could rise to €3.5 million a year, if all referrals were sent electronically." The Commission explained that eHealth can give patients the easy access to high quality health information that they need to achieve this.
The programme for the conference is available at: (http: //http://www.ehealth2005.no ).