Ahead of tomorrow’s Council meeting, EUREGHA and COCIR are calling on the 27 Finance and Economy Ministers to swiftly adopt the submitted national recovery plans. The recent crisis has highlighted the importance of robust and resilient healthcare systems for the functioning of European societies and economies.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is the right tool to mobilise funding towards the modernisation and reforms of national healthcare systems and infrastructures. Not only will it enable preparedness for future crises, but also address the backlog of missed interventions and procedures during the pandemic. The Facility should thus foster European citizens’ equal and universal access to high quality health services across the continuum of care – from prevention and early detection to treatment and home care.
COCIR and EUREGHA recall their recommendation that prioritisation of investments into policies, programs and projects that will substantially contribute to the resilience, digitisation and sustainability of national and regional healthcare systems is key in the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
EUREGHA Chair Giovanni Gorgoni said the following: “Resilience is one of the most recurrent words of the last eighteen months that is exposed to the riskiest misunderstandings. We mean it as an opportunity to gain a new but disruptive point of balance in European health systems in which care should be, thanks to digital health and digital transformation processes, remote yet closer to citizens. This transformation does not simply imply the digital conversion of old processes but the creation of new technologically enabled processes. We can achieve all this through ecosystem strategies and partnerships with industry able of providing solutions and integrated outcomes rather than just technological supplies. The creation of the European health data space is part of this ambitious vision, both as a cornerstone of future pandemic preparedness and response, and as the main platform of ecosystem strategy. Needless to say that the Recovery and Resilience facility fund is the key enabler to implement this vision and ensure the disruptive transformation of our European health system ”.
COCIR President Bernt Bieber highlights “COCIR is committed to support the EU and national efforts for a green and digitalised healthcare. Our members are working intensely towards minimising the environmental footprint of their products. At the same time, they drive innovative solutions that ensure high-quality health services for patients and foster the resilience of healthcare systems across Europe. We look forward to the opportunities offered by RRF to effectively invest into projects that both strengthen the resilience of healthcare systems and promote the sustainability and circularity of medical equipment.”
