During the Bratislava debate, these recommendations and further issues related to health care and health promotion will be discussed involving key stakeholders from Slovakia, Hungary, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria. This is the second of five regional debates happening around Europe.
In the earlier stages of the consultation process, citizens gave high priority to issues related to health. They urged the EU to intensify its efforts towards establishing of a common health care system, based on know-how from the countries with the most effective systems. Together with Member States it should implement an equal basic standard of healthcare for each EU-citizen. There should be centralized oversight of provisions and standards. An independent mechanism for EU wide recognition of qualifications for medical and health care professionals should be developed and implemented.
The debate aims to address the sustainability issue of healthcare systems’ from the perspectives of the values and principles agreed by the EU's Health Ministers in 2006 and 2008 – the Tallinn commitment to “Health Equals Wealth”. Discussion will also centre around the diminishing availability of human resources, the innovation funding and investment opportunities, in order to meet the changing needs in healthcare.
The Programme is available on http://www.facebook.com/l/27240;www.european-citizens-consultations.eu