European healthcare associations welcome EU Commission’s response to dealing with COVID-19.
Current health emergency affects all Member States equally.
RB/IF – 03/2020
On 18 March 2020, the European Social Insurance Platform
(ESIP), the International
Association of Health Care Mutuals (AIM), the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME) and the European Hospital and Healthcare
Federation (HOPE)
signed a letter addressed to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and
Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides concerning EU measures to deal with the corona
pandemic.
ESIP, together with the other signatories, welcomed the speedy provision of funds through the ‘Corona Response Investment
Initiative’. The aim of the initiative is to enable Member States to
redirect EU funding from the Structural Funds to national health systems,
businesses and labour markets. Structural and investment funds include the
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the
Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and
the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).
The European
healthcare associations fully support the European Union’s
efforts to combat the COVID 19 pandemic. The current health emergency affects
all Member States equally. It is
therefore imperative to find joint solutions to this unprecedented crisis.
It is essential to ensure that healthcare professionals have access to
appropriate equipment and that patients receive the treatment they need during efforts to slow down the spread of the virus. The associations also advocate measures
to coordinate the provision of protective equipment to doctors’ surgeries, pharmacies and hospitals in
the EU.
The European healthcare associations have offered their specialist expertise
to European policy makers during the corona pandemic and remain reliable partners for this and
future challenges in European health policy.
The letter
to the European Commission can be read here.