Outcomes of the UEMO General Assembly, Helsinki, 6 and 7 June 2025
UEMO held its Spring General Assembly in Helsinki, on 6 and 7 June, with the presence of delegations from 23 countries and representatives from six European Medical Organizations (European Council of Medical Orders, European Union of Medical Specialists, European Junior Doctors, European Association of Senior Hospital Physicians, Standing Committee of European Doctors and European Medical Students Association (EMSA).
After welcoming words by Finnish Medical Association President Niina Koivuviita, there were keynote speeches by Tiina Hetemaa, Chief Physician at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, and Juha Auvinen, a Family Physician and Professor at the University of Oulu, which detailed how the Finnish healthcare system and primary care work.
Two statements were approved at the General Assembly:
- UEMO-UEMS joint statement for the recognition of General Practice / Family Medicine at the European level, calling on the European Commission to add General Practice/Family Medicine as a new specialty to Annex V 5.1.3 of the Professional Qualifications Directive.
- UEMO statement on the situation in Gaza and medical personnel, calling for a permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages, the resumption of aid at scale through established international humanitarian relief agencies and safe passage for such aid.
The Plenary voted favourably regarding the admission of Lithuanian Society of General Practitioners and the Montenegrin Medical Chamber (Montenegro) as full members, with immediate effect. Moreover, the Georgian Association of Medical Specialties and the Association of Family Physicians of Kosovo were admitted as observers.
The Working Group on Complexity discussed the involvement of UEMO in the new European process of Health Technology Assessment (HTA), where it has been officially appointed as a stakeholder. The Working Group strongly supported (also based on the results of the survey) the position of UEMO in the HTA process. The main point of discussion was the need to establish a cooperation process with WONCA to provide, when considered useful, scientific experts. A memorandum of understanding will be set up to formalise this cooperation.
The first year of activities since UEMO formalized the partnership with UEMS-EACCME was reported and it was acknowledged that more awareness and involvement from UEMO delegations was needed to expand the project. As such, a call for UEMO delegates to apply to be reviewers was made and a procedure to guide the functioning of this group going forward was approved. The procedure will cover reviewer selection criteria, assessment of conflicts of interest, application and selection procedures and reviewer replacement.
Picture from Finnish Medical Association
