The PP spokeswoman in the European Parliament, Dolors Montserrat, He has proposed today to launch an initiative at European level to ensure that all European citizens have equal access to cancer treatments, something that currently depends on the country in which they live.
"There can be no first and second European citizens, we cannot leave anyone behind in the fight against cancer," said Montserrat during the appearance in the European Parliament of the candidate for next European Commissioner for Health, the Cypriot Stella Kyriakides
Montserrat recalled in his speech on behalf of the European People's Group, the majority of the European Chamber, that the fight against cancer must be a high priority of the new European legislature and that, although in recent years there have been agreements between several European countries -like that of Valletta or Beneluxa- to alleviate inequality in access to medicines, “much more can be done” to give a common European response to this disease. For this reason, it has asked to create a joint European initiative between the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the EU to work on the elimination of inequities in access to treatments.
In addition to its proposal to ensure equity in access to treatments, Montserrat has argued that the best practices to be more efficient in the fight against cancer are shared among all EU countries.
The popular spokeswoman and president of the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament has also said that it is important "to improve the humanization of patient care so that it is holistic and encompasses the medical part and social assistance to patients and their families."
He has also advocated to take care of the mental health of our society, threatened by stress, loneliness, depression or anxiety, and stressed that “in this context investing more in prevention is building a healthier society and investing more in research will help to understand cancer better. ”
Montserrat recalled that the PPE Group is leading a European plan against cancer, and noted that “although cancer is a relentless disease that is on its way to becoming the leading cause of death in Europe, there are reasons for hope because mortality has fallen by 10% and because between 30 and 50% of cancers are preventable if healthy habits are promoted, if we invest more in prevention and if we improve early detection ”, so he has asked Stella Kyriakides that during his term take action in all these aspects.