Unanimously adopted on Tuesday by members of the parliament's health committee, the vote of the bill which fixes the observatory's missions and its composition is scheduled for one of the next plenary sessions in the Chamber of Deputies.

Composed exclusively of experts from the scientific community, the National Health Observatory will aim to “improve the health of the population and the health system”, according to the report of the bill, by networking, centralising, coordinating and analysing health data. All of this is intended to help the government define health policy directions.

MP Mars Di Bartolomeo (LSAP), president of the health committee, said he was “very happy” with the upcoming outcome of the project, which he considers a bit like his “baby”. Minister of Health between 2004 and 2013, he said he had “always fought to have such an observatory”, with the idea going back “much further than 2013”, the year in which it featured on the government’s agenda.

A council of experts

“At the time, we had one and a half people--who were not full-time--in charge of drawing up the health programme,” he recalled. “Health needed an instrument to assess the state of health, its performance, its future challenges, and to understand the complexity of the health field.”

Since 2013, the project has undergone some modifications. In particular, the composition of the observatory has changed: originally, it included representatives from ministries, national health insurer CNS, Statec, the so-called Collège Médical of medical professionals, and others. The project has now been expanded to include scientists and researchers.

“We are counting on expertise and not on representatives of various interests,” said Di Bartolomeo. “It is better for the independence of the structure, even if it remains attached to the Ministry of Health, which is legitimate since the latter implements the proposals.”

The interest of the patients

Another change is the addition of an expert in “patient-reported outcome measures” whose role is to take the patients' perspective and advocate on their behalf.

The covid-19 pandemic has had only an indirect influence, according to Mars Di Bartolomeo, recalling the need for such a facility prior to the crisis, although the pandemic has highlighted the need for an overview of the health system, especially regarding staff and material resources.

This article was originally published in French on Paperjam.lu