Impact of Brexit on Healthcare delivery in the European Union: MedTech Europe urges the Commission to take action

On 6 March, MedTech Europe sent open letters to the EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vitenis Andriukaitis, and to the EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Elżbieta Bieńkowska to draw the Commission’s attention to the impact that the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union will have on the medical technology sector.

As the situation stands today, the industry may not be able to ensure continuous delivery of critical medical supplies to healthcare systems across the European Union.

For the benefit of patients, MedTech Europe calls upon the Commission to take action to ensure the continued supply of medical devices to the EU-27, including considering temporary coordinated European contingency measures to allow patients in the EU continued access to devices required for essential therapies, and to avoid shortages in the supply of blood and blood products (shortage of tests to ensure the safety of the blood supply), emergency surgery and care (shortage of sutures, reconstructive orthopaedic devices, emergency interventions in ophthalmology) and other healthcare interventions.