Leading European academics say many health systems across the European Union discriminate against the poor and ethnic minorities, Press TV reports.
A conference called “Health in Europe, Making it Fairer” was held in Brussels on Tuesday in which European scholars emphasized on the negative impacts of harsh budget cuts on many health systems across the EU.
“When we have people who are sick, they are not working. That has a direct impact on our economic situation, on our productivity index and so we really need to change our focus from just looking at health as an expenditure but more as health as an investment to assure a sustainable future,” Ricardo Baptista leite, a Portuguese lawmaker, said.
The participant researchers noted that the EU’s economic crisis has brought about wide-scale health discrimination particularly against migrants, the disabled, those with chronic diseases and people suffering from mental health problems.
Furthermore, ethnic minorities in the EU reportedly suffer the greatest levels of discrimination.
EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said, “Life expectancy for Roma at birth is estimated to be 10 years less than for non-Roma citizens. Child mortality rates of Roma are 226 times higher than the child mortality rates in the general population.”
EU member states have been told that they need to do more individually and collectively.
“We are still not a union in health matters. We may be a union of visa policy, we may be a union of other matters but in health, the divergences are still too great,” EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg said.
This is while the economic crisis in the bloc has seen savage health budget cuts and the most vulnerable in society have been worst affected.
MSM/AS/MHB
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