Preventive medicine and the institution of a European Health Card

Recommendation 607 (1970)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 21 September 1970 (12thSitting) (see Doc. 2808, report of theCommittee on Social and Health Questions). Text adopted by the Assembly on 21 September 1970 (12thSitting).

The Assembly,

1. Noting that, as aresult of progress in medicine and hygiene, life expectancy has increasedconsiderably in the last fifty years ;

2. Noting that this increasedlongevity leads to a higher proportion of the chronically sick and infirm inthe population ;

3. Noting that chronic conditions, disabilities andeven early death are increasingly due to degenerative processes (the "diseasesof civilisation") and to accidents, and less to infection ;

4. Considering that a substantial proportion of the conditions which causedeath, disablement or chronic disease will respond to preventive treatment;

5. Considering that full advantage is still not being taken inCouncil of Europe member States of the possibilities now offered by preventivemedicine, and that not enough preventive medical examinations are yet beingorganised and financed by the authorities ;

6. Believing that, withthe use of computers, the results of preventive examinations could be madereadily available to science, and that this could bring about improvedsupervision of public health ;

7. Believing that medical students andalso the medical profession as a whole should be encouraged to acquire a fullerknowledge of preventive and social medicine ;

8. Convinced thatregular preventive examinations would lead to a substantial reduction in thecost of therapeutic medicine ;

9. Noting that, owing to movements ofpopulation, medical practitioners often receive from their patients only vagueinformation about previous vaccinations, medical examinations andtreatment,

10. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

10.1 Urge member governments :

a to instruct their public health authorities,in close co-operation with the medical profession, to promote and furtherdevelop arrangements for making regular preventive examinations more readilyavailable to the population in general and particularly to those most at risk,and to introduce new examinations to allow an early diagnosis of degenerativediseases ;

b to draw the attention of the public, throughradio, television and the press, to the growing importance of the examinationsreferred to under (a) above ;

c to establish Chairs inpreventive and social medicine at all universities and medical faculties, andto provide adequate resources for research into the priority aspects ofpreventive medicine ;

10.2 Instruct theEuropean Public Health Committee :

a to draw updetailed recommendations regarding the various preventive measures to be putinto effect, taking into account the incidence of chronic ailments, disabilityand premature death, present knowledge of their established or suspectedcauses, and the available remedial action, especially health education andearly detection ;

b to prepare a "European Health Card"involving the use of a code, through which the essential particulars ofpatients would be made available immediately and confidentially to doctors inany memberState.