MEPs asked to investigate mismanagement of pandemic in healthcare sector
Brussels, 01/07/2020 (Agence Europe)
Several long-term care organisations called on the European Parliament on Wednesday 1 July to launch an inquiry into the management of the Covid-19 pandemic in long-term care facilities, especially nursing homes.
“We owe it to those receiving care and to the infected workers and victims, their families and everyone in Europe“, write the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), the AGE Platform Europe organisation of older people, and the European Disability Forum (EDF).
The signatories highlight the lack of consideration given by public authorities to staff and residents of long-term care facilities. While recent data show a higher mortality rate in these facilities (which, according to the World Health Organization, account for more than half of all deaths), they deplore the fact that some Member States, faced with shortages of tests, have not made them a priority, going so far as to consider these deaths as “normal” or even “inevitable“. They also criticise the lack of personal protective equipment, test kits, training, and safety protocols for healthcare workers.
According to them, long-term institutions have paid the price for a serious lack of preparedness and very poor and delayed management of the epidemic. They are calling on MEPs to launch a European inquiry through a commission of inquiry or a special committee with full powers of investigation.
Their letter was addressed to the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, the presidents of the political groups, and the chairs of the Employment (EMPL) and Petitions (PETI) Committees.
See the letter: https://bit.ly/2YQnHR3 (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)
