In order to
“Put human lives first. In the midst of the dreadful Covid-19 crisis across Europe, all member states and their national health systems have the duty to do whatever it takes to save the greatest number of lives. We are very concerned with the shortage of some essential equipment in the fight against Covid-19 and therefore, we decided to formally request the postponement of the entry into force of the Regulation on Medical Devices,” said S&D spokesperson on medical devices, Biljana Borzan.
“Although the regulation contains very important elements to improve patient safety, in these unprecedented times, the priority should be on meeting the demand for medical devices and equipment. This should be seen as just a temporary measure. An extraordinary measure for extraordinary times. Therefore, we demand the Commission to postpone its implementation until after the fight against Coronavirus has been won,” concluded Borzan.
“Right now, the most important thing is to ensure that Europe can combat the current Covid-19 crisis in the most efficient way. We call on the Commission to take immediate action to facilitate that there are sufficient safe medical devices readily available for Europe’s citizens. We need the medical device industry to rapidly increase production of essential equipment including face masks, other protective equipment, ventilators and testing kits. This is where they need to focus their resources. New European rules on medical devices are much needed, but now is not the right time to be changing the rules,” added S&D spokesperson in the environment committee, Jytte Guteland.
