In the course of a Belgian Parliamentary Roundtable on 20 January 2021, Members of the Federal Parliament Els Van Hoof (CD&V), Laurence Hennuy (Ecolo), and Gitta Vanpeborgh (SP.A) have stated their commitment to issue a Parliamentary Resolution which will address structural heart diseases (SHD) and their impact on the elderly.
The Parliamentary Rresolution will revolve around the need to raise awareness about the significant impact of SHD within society, enhancing early detection and timely treatment, as well as improving the resilience of Belgium’s healthcare system. The parliamentary resolution will be submitted in February 2021.
The Roundtable also saw the launch of a position paper which proposes policy recommendations for Belgium to proactively solve the challenges associated with SHDs. The position paper informs states that if no action is taken soon, the societal and economic problems caused by SHDs today will be insurmountable in the decades to come.
With over 30 key stakeholders attending took part in the Roundtable, which included a thorough review of the current status quo of situation regarding SHDs in Belgium, as well as discussions on how to ensure the position paper’s recommendations are properly implemented.
The recommendations in the position paper, as well as the outcomes of the event’s discussions, will serve as a basis for the Parliamentary resolution, thereby ensuring that all stakeholder views are taken into account. Moreover, the outcomes of the discussions which have taken place during the event will also be reflected in the resolution’s content, accordingly ensuring the representation of all stakeholders’ perspectives on the topic.