An electronic health card will be introduced for all EU citizens during the Irish presidency, it was announced yesterday.
The so-called European Health Insurance Card will replace the current E111 form which people fill in to qualify for subsidised medical help if needed in another EU member-state when they travel abroad.
In many cases, a fresh form has to be filled in for each trip, but the new card will eliminate the need to do this. However, it will not offer any additional benefits to the E111 form.
However, the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said the card, which will be about the size of a credit card, will eventually carry details of each patient's medical history and essential records such as their blood type.
This will make treatment by doctors abroad quicker and more efficient.
It will also eventually replace other paper-based forms, such as the E112 and E128, which entitle citizens to treatment in other member-states which they cannot avail of in their own country.
Mr Martin said the card would be introduced on June 1st. One million have been ordered for the Republic.
"The card represents a further step towards making movement within EU member-states easier for citizens," he said.
Member-states will also attempt to draw up guidelines on patient mobility across states during the Irish presidency.
The move follows various European Court rulings on who should foot the bill when a patient from one member-state obtains major treatment in another jurisdiction.
Achieving consensus on the issue will be difficult, the Minister conceded, as some state's were concerned their health budgets could be bled dry by an influx of patients from other countries.
Other important matters which he hopes will be advanced in the healthcare area during the presidency will be reaching agreement on the creation of a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Such a centre will have a major role in co-ordinating responses to serious health threats such as any future SARS outbreak.
Mr Martin indicated attempts will also be made to reach agreement on best practice for the prevention of cardiovascular disease across member-states and, not surprisingly, tobacco control.
A conference will take place in Limerick in June at which tobacco-control policies in the EU will be reviewed.
"The World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control will be reviewed, together with the main provisions of EU law and possible future legislative proposals in this area," he said.
An expert group will also meet here in April to examine approaches to research on childhood asthma from a genetic and environmental perspective.
The entire programme of events, which also includes a food safety conference, will cost the Department of Health €2 million. Mr Martin said this had been set aside for the presidency during the Estimates, and would not detract from other areas.
Furthermore, while he said the organisation of events would require a very significant effort on the part of staff in the Department over the next six months, it would not take from the Government's planned health service reform programme.
"In terms of the health reform programme, we have a very distinct organisational framework put in place for that as well which will work away, and so the work of the EU will not affect the ongoing progression of the various aspects of the health reform programme."