Luxembourg has pleaded the case for a faster provision of treatment for young cancer patients at the EPSCO Council.
On 8 December 2016 at the Council for the Health Ministers of the 28 EU Member States in Brussels, Luxembourg launched an appeal for a legal framework allowing children and young people suffering from cancer to receive adequate treatment more quickly.
The Luxembourg Ministry of Health stated that “offering sick children and teenagers access to the highest quality and most innovative treatment according to their specific needs, especially in the sector of pediatric oncology, and increasing their chances of survival, should be an important objective for all of our health systems.”
Current European legislation does not allow the favouring of the development of pediatric medical treatment specifically adapted to young patients with specific illnesses.
Luxembourg’s appeal was supported by nine other Member States, and the commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis has committed himself to implementing the necessary measures from the start of 2017.
During the Council, Luxembourg also invited the Commission to get more actively involved in the prevention of the harmful effects of alcohol, especially regarding young people. This appeal was supported by an overwhelming majority of the other delegations.
