The European Health Parliament rethinking 21st-century healthcare
Fadi Dalati MD MSc is Chair of the Digital Skills for Medical Profession Committee at the ground-breaking European Health Parliament. Here he tells us what issues they have been considering and what they hope to achieve
‘It’s a case of 21st-century challenges needing 21st-century solutions. That’s why the European Health Parliament (EHP) initiative was born — bringing a group of young minds from all over Europe together to rethink, reimagine and reshape Europe’s health sector,’ explains Dalati.
The Health Parliament is already well under way (the second public plenary session took place in February) and these 55 young professionals will continue to meet in Brussels until June 2016. The ambition of this grassroots movement is to reinvent European healthcare by enabling young professionals from different backgrounds to debate and formulate innovative ideas about the major European healthcare challenges. Organisations and companies such as Johnson & Johnson, EU40, POLITICO Europe, Google and the College of Europe support the initiative.
Viable and sustainable healthcare
‘The task in hand is simple, yet ever complicated,’ Dalati continues. ‘How to change the health sector in Europe for the years to come, to make it a viable and sustainable solution, and prevent it from becoming a liability.
‘To try to answer that question, we gathered together to debate, discuss and come up with solutions — but not just any solutions. We needed “out-of-the-box thinking” and truly audacious answers. We needed ideas outside of the regulatory comfort zone. We needed to dream big and work hard.
‘The EHP members were divided into five different committees, and were challenged to consider five huge problems facing Europe’s healthcare sector:
anti-microbial resistance; climate change and healthcare; digital skills for the medical profession; migration and health challenges; prevention and self-care,’ he explains.
‘They were asked to produce practical solutions to present to the European Parliament, in an effort to influence future health policies. So far, the European Health Parliament has had two public plenary sessions, and everyone is welcome to our next one on 20th April, to see the work that is being done.
‘As the Chair of the Digital Skills for Medical Profession Committee, my huge task was to guide and steer 12 young minds, from all parts of Europe, with various qualities and backgrounds — including doctors, engineers, politicians, students, researchers and policy-makers — towards forming a practical policy with clear objectives on how to better integrate digital skills in the healthcare sector.
High-level digital skills
‘We started off by getting to know each other better and finding out why each of us was there — what our experiences and visions were, and how we could we make a difference,’ Dalati continues. ‘From there, we discovered that much work had been already done before us, and boy, what a journey that was! We realised that the topic in hand is vast, and many papers, policies and projects had already addressed it. Nevertheless, one area, though widely acknowledged, was rarely approached — digital skills training at university level.
‘So we decided to go where no-one had gone before. With the help of the physicians in our committee, we are preparing a survey aimed at healthcare professionals training at university. We want to find out how aware they are of mHealth, eHealth and digital skills solutions, and whether there’s enough training available to explore such possibilities,’ Dalati adds.
‘At the same time, we decided to reach out to entrepreneurs already developing new approaches in the field. We want to benefit from their experiences, understand the challenges they face and to see how we can produce a policy that could facilitate proper integration of innovations in the healthcare system.
‘But we didn’t stop there. We decided to get in contact with the “big boys” in mHealth in Europe and are participating in the EU eHealth Week (8th to 10th June in Amsterdam) to promote our policy and meet with high-level EU decision-makers.’
Time to make a stand
‘During this journey, I am always asked the same question: why would a surgeon like me leave his operating room, his clinic and his patients, and set out on such a mission,’ Dalati says. ‘Being “on the ground” in healthcare in Europe, I’m fully aware of the many challenges facing this sector, and I decided I had to be part of the solution to these problems. Medicine and surgery are my passions, but if I want to continue helping my patients, I need to make sure that serious effective steps are being taken, so that I can continue to play my role.
‘The European Health Parliament has provided me with an opportunity to make a difference. We are all confident that our work will lead to real changes, which will eventually lead us to a healthcare system that is viable, optimal, and most importantly, sustainable.’
Challenges facing the European Health Parliament
- 50 per cent of children born today in the developed world can expect to live to be 100.
- The number of people in Europe suffering from late-stage Alzheimer’s is expected to more than double over the next 40 years, from 3.2 million to 7.5 million.
- Overall, cancer incidence is expected to grow by 500,000 new cases over the next decade — an increase of 16 per cent.
- Chronic diseases affect more than 80 per cent of people aged over 65.
- Across all European economies, productivity losses due to the impact of chronic conditions continue to rise, with the prevalence of disability or illness averaging 14 per cent for the working-age population.
- An estimated 70 to 80 per cent of healthcare costs are currently spent on chronic diseases (approximately €700 billion in the EU).
- Average healthcare spending could rise from just under 7 per cent of GDP to almost 9 per cent by 2060.
Follow Fadi on Twitter @Urology_Fadi
Originally published at medtechengine.com on March 28, 2016.
