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An ageing frequent traveller (this time sat on a plane taking me from frigid Brussels to what I hope will be altogether better conditions in Southern Spain) I am often exercised by what would await me if I were to get sick on my travels. Like most citizens of the EU-15, I would probably seek […]

As the true depth of the Greek debt crisis unfolds it is hard to understand why the alarm bells were not ringing long ago. In our sector alone there is something in the region of €2.3 billion of unpaid bills and this has not happened overnight. We were warning of this particular symptom almost two […]

On the 29th October all the votes were in and it seems that nothing more than EU paperwork stands between us and our first compulsory European database for medical devices, the infamous ‘Eudamed’ database. I say compulsory because ‘Eudamed’, as our European device database is known, has been in place for many years, but it […]

I put it down to Irish politeness to always say “no” first when asked if we want something and to follow up with a “yes” when asked the second time. “Will you have a cup of Lisbon tea?Oh no thank you, I’ve had quite enough already.Are you sure? I’ve just made some and I can […]

The latest results of the Euro Health Consumer Index (www.healthpowerhouse.com) further confirm the superiority of Bismarckian social philosophy over the Beveridge approach, at least as far as the patient is concerned. Bismarck countries, characterised by compulsory third party insurance systems, feature as the most consumer friendly health systems from the perspective of the patient and […]

Returning to the daily routine after a long, and hot, summer break is always characterised by mixed feelings. Part wishes the languorous morning routines to carry on whilst other forces bring a refreshed mind optimistic about the challenges ahead. This morning’s bright and early start in Brussels was illuminated by two articles in the Financial […]

The arcane world of credit default swaps may seem a very curious subject to stimulate the mind of a life-long medical technology man. My thoughts turned to these strange and questionable instruments, which appear to be one of the roots of the financial crisis, during a week when they were seldom far from the front […]

Browsing the news pages of the web I came across an article in a journal that I am not familiar with from the USA, the grandly titled U.S. News & World Report. The report headed off on a familiar and now even more fashionable track of squarely identifying our industry as the villains of the […]

Warm summer sunshine bathed the triumphal arch of the Parc du Cinquantenaire as colleague John Brennan and I walked down the tree-lined Avenue de  Tervuren to attend sister organisation COCIR’s 50th birthday party. Highlight of a wonderfully sociable evening amongst a veritable “who’s who” of the medical technology industry in Brussels was an impassioned speech […]