Izabela Leszczyna: During the Polish presidency we will talk about the 7 pillars of security

At Tuesday's press conference, Minister Izabela Leszczyna and Deputy Minister Katarzyna Kacperczyk, who is responsible in the ministry for all European issues, briefed journalists on the key axes of the Polish presidency in the area of health care.

- During the Polish presidency, we will talk about the seven pillars of security. They concern various areas of life of Poles and Europeans. I am glad that one of them is health security," said Izabela Leszczyna, stressing that this is the first time that health has been recognized as such an important issue to be on the agenda of the European Commission and the European Parliament. - As a rule, the Union does not interfere in the health systems of member states, but the experience of pandemics and the consequences of war outside the Union's borders have made health one of the most important areas of cooperation between member states, she recalled. Leszczyna also stressed that the Polish presidency falls practically at the beginning of the new term of the European Parliament and, above all, of the European Commission, which increases the chances of "programming" health as one of the priority topics for the following months and years.

The main goal during the Polish presidency is to put patient safety and well-being at the center of all activities. - Despite the need for many technical and regulatory tasks, the patient will always come first," argued Deputy Minister Katarzyna Kacperczyk.

One of the health priorities for the next six months (but probably significantly longer, as the MZ assures that other countries strongly support Poland's point of view) is to be the mental health of children and adolescents, especially in the context of the development of digital technologies and social media. - We have been talking about the mental health of children and young people with the Union since January of this year. - We can boast of our first success - this topic will be present in the European Union for four years. It will not disappear after the end of our presidency," informed Deputy Minister Kacperczyk, adding that at the end of the presidency Poland will present recommendations and recommendations for member states in this area. - In cooperation with the WHO, we will develop a report that will analyze the impact of technology on children's health in an in-depth way, the deputy minister announced. The report is expected to be announced as early as April, during a conference in Krakow.

Another health priority is prevention. - This is the goal with which I came to the Ministry of Health. I want it not to be a ministry of disease all the time, but to truly include health promotion and preservation as its goals," recalled Izabela Leszczyna. An important part of the activities in this area, the health ministry head said, is the fight against health and medical misinformation.

The third health pillar of the Polish presidency in the area of health is digital transformation. As Deputy Minister Kacperczyk said, we are at a key moment, as the construction of regulatory and institutional architecture begins, new standards and rules for e-health in the European Union will be created. To the elements of cyber security of hospitals, we will want to include issues of cyber security of medical devices.

Last but not least, drug safety. While the digital transformation is beginning, in this case, Poland's ambition is to bring an important stage of work on the pharmaceutical package to a conclusion or at least - to reach a "critical mass" in the negotiations, but drug safety is not only a matter of revising pharmaceutical legislation. - During the first 100 days of the presidency, we want to present the assumptions of the Critical Medicines Act document, which is expected to strengthen production capacity, secure in critical active substances and support drug production in the European Union, including in Poland," Kacperczyk stressed.