On the southern rail: politics and associations are heading in the same direction
Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate have drawn up proposals for a secure supply of medical products and medicines and for strengthening Germany as a production location. At a meeting of the health and economics ministries of the four states of the so-called southern rail in Munich, they called on the federal government to implement the proposals quickly. The German Medical Technology Association (BVMed), which was represented by board member Marc D. Michel, supports the initiative of the states.

It is good that politics remains in dialogue with business. We now need a joint effort, a coordinated medical technology pact, to keep and strengthen production and research in Germany under difficult conditions.
Before the MDR, Germany was the first market for new medical products. That has changed. The US regulatory authority FDA is currently much faster - and just as safe. According to BVMed, new products will therefore reach Europe and be available to patients with a delay at best.
The association therefore demands
• competitive regulation, especially the abolition of recertification every five years
• a de-bureaucratisation offensive that reduces over-regulation and fights in Brussels for location-friendly regulations
• better data access and the right to apply to the Research Data Centre for research-based medical device companies
• strengthening the resilience of the German healthcare system and supply chains. This includes better involvement of the medtech sector in the development of solutions.
Bavaria's Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek, host of the conference, emphasised: "In the exchange with the association representatives it became clear that health and economy are two sides of the same coin - we have to get away from rigid pigeonhole thinking and bureaucracy. Our goal is to provide the best care for the people in Germany. We call on the Federal Government to quickly take up our proposals and start a dialogue with the federal states on this."