mr president approximately ten of patients admitted to hospitals and about fifteen of patients receiving primary care in the eu suffer some kind of adverse event ranging from a mild fully recoverable condition to a life-threatening or fatal occurrence
in other words about one in four of our patients suffer damage because of the treatment and not because of their disease
this statistic is even more dramatic when we consider that the number of health-care-associated deaths in europe is almost twice the number of deaths caused by road traffic accidents
ms sartori's report can do much to improve matters but as always the success of any policy depends very much on its application and in this respect national governments have the responsibility to prove by their deeds whether they really care about their citizens
health-care systems especially in the twelve newer member states need in many cases a complete overhaul with attention required to the structural improvement of hospitals the modernisation of equipment and up-to-date training of health personnel
such changes can occur only with the help of the eu both in terms of finance and expertise and such help must be made readily available for the sake of patients <unk>
