Healthcare companies must work closely with the authorities to turn Romania into a centre of excellence for medical research, say representatives of the Chamber of Commerce Switzerland - Romania (CCE-R).
According to the source, the European Health Data Space, a European Commission initiative, needs legal clarity and a supervisory authority before it can be created in Romania.
"Romania has the advantage of a broad base of healthcare professionals and data specialists who can drive the transformation into a state-of-the-art European health system and a centre of research excellence. Strong public-private collaboration can accelerate this process and build the infrastructure needed to increase efficiency and benefit from the value of health data. More investment and innovation in areas such as genomics and personalised medicine will add value for society as a whole by creating jobs and freeing up resources for the healthcare sector," said Frank Loeffler, CEO of Roche Romania and member of the board of the Chamber of Commerce Switzerland - Romania (CCE-R).
"Authorities, private companies and non-profit organisations in Romania that will work together for the digitalisation of the healthcare system must be aware that strong governance needs to be developed that will allow such projects to succeed. Questions related to consent, privacy protection, data re-use and benefit sharing need to be addressed. Romania can use the best practices that have already been tested abroad in this area, but will still need to develop clear guidance and accountability mechanisms," said Effy Vayena, Professor of Bioethics at the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH).
The Chamber of Commerce Switzerland - Romania (CCE-R) is a non-profit association with a history of 22 years in Romania, which aims to facilitate business relations between Swiss and Romanian investors and to provide economic information and advice to companies interested in developing business in the two countries.AGERPRES