Tuesday's negotiations of the EU Council for Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs in Brussels aimed to strengthen the European Health Union. This was stated by the Minister of Health of the Slovak Republic Kamil Šaško (Hlas-SD) after the negotiations.
Šaško informed that several important topics were on the agenda of the negotiations. The ministers focused on efforts to reduce the number of cardiovascular diseases in the EU, organ transplantation, the fight against cancer, competitiveness in the pharmaceutical industry and the digitalization of the healthcare sector.
According to him, the Council of Ministers approved conclusions on cardiovascular health and on organ donation and transplantation, which contain a set of measures to address chronic diseases. "These conclusions contain a set of medium-term and long-term measures to address several chronic diseases," explained Šaško.
He added that the ministers also adopted the EU Council recommendations on smoke-free and aerosol-free environments in certain outdoor areas. "This is another important step towards implementing the European Beating Cancer Plan," the minister said.
He considers the main topic of discussion at Tuesday's meeting to be the competitiveness of the EU pharmaceutical industry in light of Mario Draghi's report on the future of European competitiveness. According to him, Slovakia supports several recommendations for the pharmaceutical sector, which is a significant contributor to the EU economy.
The Minister of Health stated that it is necessary to focus more on digitalization, which will lead to a reduction in the regulatory burden and increase predictability and transparency in the supply chain, with the aim of better monitoring the movement of medicines.
"We consider digitalization important for the better functioning of the entire healthcare system," Šaško described the situation.
As part of the EU Council meeting, Šaško met with the newly elected European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, Olivér Várhelyi, at a bilateral level. He stated that this function is of great importance for the field of healthcare and the well-being of patients. At the same time, he met in Brussels with his Czech counterpart Vlastimil Válko and together they discussed topics of current and future cooperation between Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Source: TASR
