EFPAM members want
Access to services and products
– Access to all therapies and anthroposophic medicinal products should be guaranteed.
– Free choice of therapy for all European citizens.
– Recognition of all anthroposophic health professionals.
Applicability of adequate legislation
– European legislation at present is inadequate for registering all anthroposophic medicinal products; one third of products is now not registrable.
– European legislation should be revised as soon as possible.
Availability of services and products
– Due to the inadequate legislation anthroposophic medicinal products are not available to all who want to use them.
– This discrimination may cause the decline of the numbers of anthroposophic health professionals; demand is much stronger than supply.
– Availability varies enormously from EU member state to member state.
Affordability of services and products
– Services and products of anthroposophic medicine should be reimbursed to patients like other medical services and products.
Activities
EFPAM is active in a number of fields:
– (European) legislation
– the future of the patient within the context of health care
– the foundation of new patients’ associations.
Some of these activities take place within the framework of EFPAM’s four A’s-policy (Access, Applicability, Availability and Affordability).
Access
Access to the services of anthroposophic doctors, therapists and medicinal products should be guaranteed to all who want to use them.
Access to all therapies and anthroposophic medicinal products should be guaranteed. EFPAM is supporting lobby work in this field. EFPAM demands the free choice of therapy for all European citizens.
In a pluralist world where several medical orientations recognised by European texts co-exist, the natural corollary to the ideal of democracy and the respect of human rights is access of patients to the medicine of their choice and corresponding treatment. For European citizens this involves free circulation of medicinal products and qualified practitioners in the member states. In some member states certain anthroposophic therapy providers are not considered to be part of the health sector, making their services almost inaccessible to patients. Users of anthroposophic medicine have aligned themselves with other medical currents in order that free choice of therapy be taken into consideration by the legislators and especially that free choice of therapy be inserted in the European constitution.
EFPAM has been active in the field of lobby work for adequate legislation.
See the following documents:
Common Resolution on Pharmaceutical Legislation (2002)
Applicability
The present European legislation concerning the registration of anthroposophic medicinal products is inadequate and does not take the special characteristics of these medicines into account.
Present European legislation in the field of medicinal products does not provide adequate registration possibilities for anthroposophic medicinal products and is in many cases unnecessarily inapplicable. The application of European legislation varies from country to country. The present restrictive legislation provides for unfair treatment of AMPs. EFPAM promotes adequate legislation, both on a European and national levels.
Availability
Demand and supply should be in equilibrium; unnecessary legal barriers should be removed
In future anthroposophic doctors and therapists and anthroposophic medicinal products should be available on the European market and unfair obstacles should be removed. The Europe-wide registration of health care workers should include anthroposophic therapeutical professions. An important theme is the availability of training courses for young doctors and therapists.
The availability of a broad spectrum of anthroposophic medicinal products is in great danger because of the inadequate European legislation. 1/3 of the remedies is not registrable under the present legislation. These include products that are of great importance to patients, especially chronically ill patients. The availability to patients therefore is at great and unjustified risk.
Affordability
Double payment for services and anthroposophic medicinal products should be prevented
Why should you pay extra for anthroposophic medicines that do you well under the present national and private insurance schemes in many European countries? Why should patients wanting to use anthroposophic medicine be treated in a different way? EFPAM strives for equal rights.