Medicine for the People has been fighting for affordable medicines and an accessible healthcare system for decades. During the pandemic, they showed their strength once again. The organisation is currently taking action to put the corona vaccine in the hands of the public authorities. We interviewed Janneke Ronse, the organisation's president.
Médecine pour le Peuple carried out many actions during the pandemic. What did been where are its angles of attack?
« Medicine for the People (MPLP) has been fighting for 50 years for a healthcare system that is affordable and accessible to everyone. In our 11 medical centres, patients can see a doctor for free. As soon as the pandemic broke out, we took full advantage of the situation. We quickly trained our medical centres in measures specific to the coronavirus. We called our patients to see if they needed help. MPLP also sprang into action when the government was unable to provide protective equipment. We took money from our budgets to support other front-line organisations that didn't have protective equipment.
At the beginning, we did a lot of testing. There was too little testing, even though we knew it was a crucial pillar in containing the pandemic. We set up testing centres and extended them to nursing homes because the government was reluctant to test the population on a large scale. We have also set up our own local contact monitoring. We don't believe in centralised tracking by commercial callcentres. They don't inspire confidence, often arrive too late and transmit incorrect information.
In our medical centres, we often heard about the insecurity in the field. Some patients who tested positive assumed that they had been contaminated at work. We were able to correlate several positive cases with a particular company. This is why, in our medical centres, we concentrate on finding the origin of the contamination. So we can say that neither the authorities nor employers have taken responsibility for people. We are currently working to make the vaccine accessible to everyone throughout the world. This is what we are doing with the No Profit on the Pandemic campaign. »
Why MPLP support the European Citizens' Initiative No profit on pandémie?
«Médecine pour le Peuple's mission is to make health a right for everyone. We are trying to achieve this by various means. We want to make medicines against the coronavirus a universal public good. As is the case with the polio vaccine. It came onto the market without a patent and has not been hijacked by the pharmaceutical industry. One of our doctors, Anne Delespaul, was one of the initiators of the European Citizens' Initiative. We think it's important to work at European level to put pressure on the European Commission.
Big Pharma has developed coronavirus vaccines with public money. However, there is no transparency about the conditions of purchase or the prices. Everything happens behind the scenes. This gives them total control over the production, pricing and distribution of the vaccines. As an organisation, we support the call to remove patents on coronavirus vaccines and treatments. This is necessary to speed up the production of vaccines and medicines and ensure that everyone has access to them.»
Concreteement, comment MPLP contribute to the citizens' initiative?
«First of all, we distributed the campaign material to our patients, volunteers, supporters and partners. We organised information sessions on the importance of getting the vaccine into the hands of the public.
In our practices, we collect signatures every day: at reception, in waiting rooms, during consultations and by telephone. We try to attract the street, for example to vaccination centres, by telling them about our campaigns. It's impressive to see how positive the reactions are. Almost everyone signs up. It's so unfair that everyone has to live under duress because the shareholders of Big Pharma want to make a profit.»
The fight for accessible medicines is part of our history. MPLP. How is this possible?
«We have been working for decades in favour of a different medicines policy. A policy based on the needs of the population, not on the profit motive of multinationals. For example, we took 600 patients to the Netherlands to buy medicines at «Kiwi prices». People were angry to see the price difference. With the PTB, we introduced a bill to extend the application of the kiwi model Belgium: thanks to public subsidies, we could achieve significant price reductions. Both patients and the Social Security system stand to gain. The Cour des Comptes recently issued a positive opinion on the subject.
Then we took action against the rising price of antibiotics and antacids. Or the drug Zolgensma for baby Pia. Despite billions of euros of public investment, it is the pharmaceutical companies that have a right to the end result. Many of our patients take offence at this. Belgians pay 20% of their healthcare costs out of their own pockets. A large proportion of this is for drugs. What's more, Social Security is funded collectively, which still represents a lot of money for the pharmaceutical industry. People are prepared to pay a lot for their health, and they misuse it: it's «life or death». We should be investing that money in healthcare staff or reimbursing psychological care, for example.»
Medicine for the People attracts patients and healthcare staff through its campaigns. Why is public involvement so important?
«On the initiative of the PTB, MPLP wants to tackle the root causes of health problems. Many people fall ill because of the poor state of their homes, precarious working conditions, job insecurity and/or financial difficulties. These problems cannot be solved in a doctor's surgery. They are rooted in our society. We aspire to a society in which health is a right with no conditions or access thresholds. But we can't do it alone. We need the public to get involved. That's why, together with our patients, we're looking for solutions and ways to take action. This is what we call empowerment: fighting with people for our rights, because together we are stronger.»
Read also
Read other articles and interviews on the same theme on our website:
- An independent study on the coronavirus pandemic points the finger at Europe
- The pandemic is not over. Let's change it!
- Minister De Croo, make the vaccine a public good
- Positive contamination of the trade union movement, interview with M-A Gilot, CNE
- If only COVAX had chosen to break Big Pharma's monopoly, interview with PHM expert Prasanna Paligram
- The West isolated on the issue of lifting patents - an interview with Marc Botenga, Member of the European Parliament
