On 23 March, Guy Verhofstadt (MEP, RenewEurope) called for a new initiative enabling transborder treatment to fight the Covid-19 outbreak. In a letter directed to Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, he urges the European Commission to put forward a proposal which promotes an emergency programme for medical assistance across internal borders.

Within his letter, he emphasizes how small patient exchange-projects are starting to emerge. In Eastern France, for instance, the intensive care units are not able to cope with the number of critically ill patients and transfer their patients to hospitals in neighbouring countries Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Guy Verhofstadt mentions that even though these are valuable actions, systematic coordination must be established building upon the 2011 Cross-Border Healthcare Directive and the Solidarity Clause in Article 222 of this Treaty.

EUREGHA fully supports the message of Guy Verhofdstadt and is a fierce advocate of stronger cross-border cooperation. By starting joint coordination of health services, the European Member States can make use of each other's infrastructure and high-technology devices which are situated close to the borders. In light of the Covid-19 outbreak and the additional high numbers of patients in need of critical care, it is important to enabling individual European Member states to support each other. Moreover, we need to make sure we recognize the trend of changing healthcare needs and make changes when necessary to make sure the European citizens are at the heart of the healthcare transformation process.

We invite you to share with us examples of how Covid-19 is affecting healthcare cross-border cooperation in border areas. Please do not hesitate to contact EUREGHA on secretariat@euregha.net.