"It is clear that a country cannot tackle a pandemic crisis on its own. We really need to have better cross-border communication and cooperation across the EU." Olgierd Geblewicz President of West Pomerania Region and the EPP-CoR Group made these remarks during a meeting with Oxana Domenti, World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative to the European Union and Patricia Lamas Sanchez, WHO External Relations Officer in Brussels.
Geblewicz recalled that he comes from a region of some 2 million inhabitants with its borders touching with two regions in Germany. He spoke of restrictions imposed by national authorities to contain the spread of the coronavirus which created challenges for healthcare systems on both sides of the border. In addition, different decisions were taken by different member states without coordination with neighbouring states and without a regional approach. "This shows that we need a strategic European approach which engages LRAs when drawing plans" underlined Geblewicz.
During the meeting, Geblewicz who is the rapporteur for the opinion on 'Cross-border health threats and the new mandate of European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC)' said "My opinion will support the proposal presented by the European Commission but we will underline the position of LRAs in terms of strengthening cross border cooperation" Geblewicz explained that in 19 of the 27 member states healthcare is decentralised and thus in many countries, cities and regions are in charge of healthcare. "My region is responsible for 13 regional hospitals and so we are at the frontline of this fight. We experienced shortages in protective equipment and medicines and this can be addressed through cross-border cooperation".
Geblewicz referred to a debate on the COVID-19 pandemic vaccination campaign held during the plenary with Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, Regional Director for Europe, WHO and the action plan signed between WHO and the CoR to improve the resilience of regional and local health systems through joint research and policymaking. He described it as the foundation on which both parties will develop their cooperation.
Geblewicz also held a meeting with Agnes Molnar, Deputy Head of Unit for Health Security and Vaccination. He said that cities and regions must be engaged in strategic planning and coordination of responses to health threats. With respect to special training for health care staff, Geblewicz said that considering their role in healthcare, cities and regions must be involved.
With respect to data collection, the rapporteur emphasised the need to not only focus on the national approach but also on the regional one so as to be better prepared and to respond in a more effective manner. In this regard, he called for data collection to also take place at the NUTS2-level.
Geblewicz remarked that regions and cities are literally at the frontline implementing health measures but have no say in policy-making and coordination. In this regard he proposed for the CoR representative to be engaged in the advisory body of ECDC as permanent observer so that cities and regions can share their experiences and knowledge for better response.