Subject: Inhuman conditions in S. Giovanni Bosco Hospital in Naples
In the medical department of the San Giovanni Bosco Hospital in Naples, citizens have been complaining1 about the inhuman conditions experienced by an intubated patient who was found to be completely covered in ants, in a very unhealthy environment. Such degradation is not new as far as hospitals in Campania are concerned; we can recall the cases of patients lying on the floors of corridors and waiting rooms in the hospital in Nola2.
Article 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights stipulates that the right to health is ‘the right of access to preventive healthcare and the right to benefit from medical treatment under the conditions established by national laws and practices’. In addition, the European Charter of Patients’ Rights calls for the right of each individual to have access to high quality health services on the basis of the specification and observance of precise standards.
In the light of the above, can the Commission say:
1) what measures it intends to take to protect the rights of citizens under Article 1 – respect for and protection of human dignity – and Article 35 – the right to health – of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights;
2) whether it is able to provide any clarifications, by calling on the competent authorities, about the real health and hygiene conditions experienced by patients in hospitals in Campania and whether they are in keeping with general standards in the Member States?
1 https://video.repubblica.it/edizione/napoli/napoli-il-video-shock-della-donna-coperta-dalle-formiche-all-
ospedale-s-giovanni-bosco/319320/319949 2
https://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/cronaca/17_gennaio_09/ospedale-nola-pazienti-curati- pavimento-b15cddae-d63d-11e6-841e-d040ddd127a0.shtml
Answer given by Mr Andriukaitis on behalf of the European Commission (7 February 2019)
The delivery of health services is an issue that is organised at national and local level. The EU Member States are guided by the principles established in Article 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — ‘Everyone has the right of access to preventive healthcare and the right to benefit from medical treatment under the conditions established by national laws and practices’ (3) and principle 16 of the European Pillar of Social Rights — ‘Everyone has the right to timely access to affordable, preventive and curative healthcare of good quality’ (4).
According to its Article 51(1) the Charter is addressed to Member States only when they are implementing Union law. However, pursuant to Article 168(7) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (5), Member States are responsible for the definition of their health policy and for the organisation and delivery of health services and medical care. The Commission is therefore not in a position to act as suggested in question 2.
The Commission, in particular through cooperation mechanisms and via the financial input of the EU Health Programme (6), can only support mutual learning and capacity building in the Member State to make health systems more effective, accessible and resilient (7).
⋅1∙ https://video.repubblica.it/edizione/napoli/napoli-il-video-shock-della-donna-coperta-dalle-formiche-all-ospedale-s-giovanni-bosco/319320/319949
⋅2∙ https://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/cronaca/17_gennaio_09/ospedale-nola-pazienti-curati-pavimento-b15cddae-d63d-11e6-841e-
d040ddd127a0.shtml
⋅3∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:12012P/TXT&from=EN
⋅4∙ https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/social-summit-european-pillar-social-rights-booklet_en.pdf
⋅5∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:12012E/TXT&from=EN
⋅6∙ https://ec.europa.eu/health/funding/programme_en
⋅7∙ ‘COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION On effective, accessible and resilient health systems’, COM(2014) 215 April 2014; State of Health in the EU —
companion report, SWD (2018) 200, November 2018.
https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/systems_performance_assessment/docs/com2014_215_final_en.pdf