Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-12-Speech-1-185"
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"en.20070312.22.1-185"2
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"I regret to say that I regard the Commission’s communication on healthcare services as unsatisfactory. The Commission has failed to come up with adequate and specific proposals for coordinating healthcare provision, since such service provision falls under the purview of national authorities. Furthermore, the communication unequivocally defends the notion that healthcare services should be regulated by the principle of free movement of goods.
In this regard I would like to emphasise that patients are not goods and healthcare professionals are not the same as other service providers. The European Parliament subscribed to that principle some time ago, as it excluded healthcare provision from the Services Directive. Despite the fact that cross-border health services only account for about 1% of healthcare provision, the Commission’s communication focuses on patient mobility, cost refunds, etc. One should realise, however, that patients are not small-time traders and that patients do not seek healthcare abroad in order to generate savings but because such care is not available at home. It is therefore, quite unacceptable that Article 95, which regulates the free movement of goods, should be the sole legal basis of the future directive.
The Commission should focus on other pressing problems in the European Union. For instance, on why the mortality rate due to colon cancer is 40% higher in Slovakia than in Sweden or on how the EU could contribute to improving healthcare quality, for example through the use of structural fund allocations more efficiently for healthcare purposes.
I only wish patients could join forces with health professionals to bring about change as effectively as farmers can. Perhaps then we would see benefits going not only to farmers and cattle but also to human beings – in other words patients.
The Commission also draws our attention to recipient countries. In this respect I would like to highlight the countries of departure. In Eastern Europe we are beginning to see so-called white holes, or areas where there is a shortage of healthcare professionals."@en1
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