New decade, new input

Contributing to a sustainable healthcare system is one of our driving forces, so we seized the opportunity to comment on the European Commission President’s EU 2020 strategy and to urge the EU to consider health as central in its strategy for the coming decade.

Our input to the EU 2020 Consultation not only makes the link between health and wealth but also firmly puts the focus on enabling technologies and innovations in fields like preventative medicine, eHealth and telemedicine. Earlier diagnosis and disease screening in areas such as cancer are all instrumental in achieving sustainable healthcare and therefore more sustainable healthcare, we explained to President Barroso in our comments.

At a time of economic difficulty and facing an aging population, we felt the Commission’s paper did not put enough emphasis on healthcare and its contribution to GDP. Healthcare currently employs 10% of the workforce in Europe, represents approximately 9% of the EU-15 economy, a figure which is expected to reach 16% in 2020.

Therefore, the EU 2020 strategy should look to put in place measures which support investment in healthcare infrastructure, promote healthcare IT and telemedicine, encourage the development of integrated care pathways and help healthcare IT become a leader for Europe. Download our contribution at: http://cocir.org/content.php?level1=14&mode=24&id=56

Nicole Denjoy

21 January 2010