The vaccine should be a public good - not covered by proprietary rights, copyrights or patents, so that there won't be any restrictions on its production. Health is a human right, so protection against the coronavirus is also everyone's right, so that lockdowns can end and there would be no more victims. How does the left in the European parliament perceive the EU negotiations on the purchase of vaccines, as well as the vaccination process itself?įirst, we demand that vaccines are made available for everyone. However, to see this translated into the actions of the European Commission, great pressure from below will be needed. They see what is happening in their countries, what is happening in the United States, where the logic of profit has gone completely absurd. There is a hope that so many people now saw that they need efficient public health care – because it is a matter of survival. It always ends up figuring out how to earn a little more: maybe spend less on feeding the inhabitants of the care house? Maybe nothing bad happens if the medical care gets a little bit worse? Unfortunately, the European Commission, opting for the private sector, leaves space for such thinking. If you, for instance, run a bookshop, and put profit first, it somehow sticks. Nursing homes and specialized institutions are most often run by international funds. Let's take a look at how care for seniors looks like in Western Europe. That excludes any thinking in terms of profit, because the effect is always the same: expensive services, lack of availability and savings at the expense of patients. Let us stick to a basic rule: health for everyone. We have to give up the idea that healthcare can be other than public. In the latest European healthcare programme, the significant role was assigned for. Unfortunately the second – and the bad – scenario might be the case. What approach will win in the European Commission now? The ability to learn from mistakes, meaning that there will be no more appeals to save money on healthcare? Or will the neoliberal logic stay strong? They also would be able to quickly identify, for example, cases of infectious diseases. It is also particularly important to support the first contact staff, especially family doctors, so there will be enough of them and making a quick appointment would not be a problem. Nurses and doctors fought to create it, and my party supported them in parliament. increase the expenses.įor example, in Belgium, a special emergency fund was created for the health service, worth several hundred million euros. 63 times! So to begin with, it is worth canceling the cuts that were implemented then, and assess the urgent needs after that, all the time doing exactly the opposite, i.e. In total, between 20, the European Commission called on various Member States sixty-three times to cut health spending. I, as an MEP, want to draw attention to something else. Experts from each country will be able to describe it best. These would be different amounts depending on the country. How to restore the proper public health service? What amounts are needed to make up for what was destroyed by the mindless cuts in public spending? Currently, we do not have such a guarantee, because the monopoly on the supply of vaccines has been transferred to a single company that is unable to produce on an appropriate scale. We must be assured that they are safe and available for everyone. Why don't we have enough nurses? Because we offer them difficult working conditions and low wages! We cannot wait any longer to change this. We must subsidize the health service on a large scale, including investing huge amounts of money in employee salaries. The same problem in every single European country. There was a shortage of nurses, doctors, medical equipment, surgical masks. We may now have a bitter satisfaction that we were right, but it is a very bitter one. A time of emergency came and they were not ready! We, the left-wing people, have predicted it would be that way. Marc Botenga: First of all, we have seen how much the austerity policy has weakened public health systems throughout the European Union. Małgorzata Kulbaczewska-Figat: How, from a left-wing perspective, would you describe the actions of the European Union regarding the pandemic? The The Left in the European Parliament officially supports the the European Citizens' Initiative No Profit on Pandemic for free and universal access to a Covid-19 vaccine and treatments for everyone.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |