The need to involved local and regional authorities in emergency preparedness as well as the need for a system to support cross-border cooperation in the health sector were the key points discussed during an expert discussion on health legislation.
Olgierd Geblewicz, President of West Pomerania Region and the EPP-CoR group said that in the first wave of the pandemic the regions faced strict regulations regarding crossing borders which created serious problems for the Polish and German health workers and doctors working in Germany. "We have to establish clear rules, gather best practices and better communicate on both sides of the border. European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) should be further used as communication platform by enabling the agency to collect data from the sub-national NUTS-2 level." he said.
Geblewicz who is the rapporteur for the opinion on 'Cross-border health threats and the new mandate of ECDC' added "During the pandemic we faced shortages in medicines and did not have a cross border platform that allowed us to be better prepared and to exchange devices or medicines. My opinion will seek to encourage the EU to create a system based on good practices to encourage and incentivize cross-borders cooperation."
Birgitta Sacrédeus, member of Dalarna Regional Council and Rapporteur for the Opinion on the twin legislation 'Pharmaceutical strategy' and the 'New mandate of EMA' said that in 19 out of 27 EU countries, health care is decentralized. She stressed "The regional and local level plays a vital role in emergency preparedness and needs to be involved in the design of measures that will strengthen security of supply for medicines and reduce vulnerability."