On Thursday, 30 October, the European Commission, in cooperation with the German Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS), and the Cross-border Institute for Healthcare Systems and Prevention (CBI) hosted the well-attended conference on cross-border healthcare in the German-Dutch border region at the Martinikerk in Groningen.
The event, which was supported by the National Contact Point EU-PATIENTS.DE of the German Liaison Office for Health Insurance – Abroad (DVKA), also marked the official kick-off of the Interreg-funded project Health4DE-NL, conducted by the CBI. Melanie Walter, Minister for European and Regional Development of Lower Saxony, and Cora Yfke Sikkema, Mayor of Oldambt, jointly gave the official start signal.
The conference brought together ministries and high-ranking politicians of both countries. The close German-Dutch cooperation was described as “the key to a sustainable and secure region.” In fact, this event brought together more cross-border researchers and politicians than meet-ups in the previous years.
Jan Anthonie Bruijn, Dutch Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, René Paas, King’s Commissioner of the Province of Groningen, Nikolaus Jansen, Commissioner for Regional Development of the Weser-Ems Region, and Sandra Gallina, Director-General of DG SANTE, officially opened the event.
Two hundred and sixty-one participants, of which 173 on-site, included representatives from health insurances – for the first time from both sides of the border – regional authorities and public officials, universities, hospital executives and many more from Germany and the Netherlands, as well as other European countries.
At the heart of the conference were expert discussions among policymakers, researchers from different border-regions, and practitioners on cross-border healthcare and the importance of the European Reference Networks, as well as the official kick-off of the Health4DE-NL project, a concrete initiative to implement Directive 2011/24/EU.
Georg Kippels, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Ministry of Health of Germany, concluded: “I am very grateful to the European Commission for making this event possible. It is a starting point in two senses: A starting point for even more intensive dialogue and exchange. And a starting point for the promotion of cross-border health cooperation in the northern Dutch-German border region.”
Access to healthcare in border regions is often limited. Only through the collective action of policymakers, healthcare professionals, patient organizations, public health authorities, and researchers we can strengthen cooperation and improve access to healthcare for all citizens.
A heartfelt thank you to all participants!
The report of the conference is available here: https://www.rug.nl/aletta/internationalisering/health4de-nl/nieuws/symposium-on-cross-border-healthcare-in-the-de-nl-border-region