The EU backed down on Friday on funding transfers of hospital patients from one country to another.
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Sebastien SALOM-GOMIS / SIPA
20 million euros instead of 220 million.
The European Union backtracked on Friday on funding transfers of hospital patients from one country to another.
The day before, the president of the European executive, Ursula von der Leyen, had announced that the European Commission would make "220 million euros available to finance cross-border transfers of (hospitalized) patients where necessary".
Questioned by the press on Friday, Commission spokespersons acknowledged on Friday that this sum was in fact not new: it corresponds to the “mobility package” unveiled by the EU in June… But intended to finance three different missions.
As a result, only 20 million of this amount is actually dedicated to patient transfers.
Two other 100 million missions
According to the initial breakdown, some 100 million euros were foreseen to cover the cost of importing medical equipment;
Another 100 million was to finance the transfer of health workers and the operational costs of mobile medical capacities;
and only 20 million euros were foreseen for patient transfers between EU member states.
“The EU has made 220 million euros available for these three objectives (…) However, there are no divisions, no limitation (…) As far as I understand, we can therefore go beyond of this sum of 20 million for patient transfers, ”explained a spokesperson during a press briefing on Friday.
While the second wave threatens to saturate hospital capacities, “the issue of cross-border patient transfers is back on the table.
(…) It was important to reiterate that there is money to finance them, ”explained another spokesperson.
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