InfoEtica is an electronic bulletin that selects and synthesizes international press opinion articles about issues related to ethics of science and technology. In order to serve society, it is disseminated among persons and potentially interested parties.

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This Issue's Highlights

Public health: efficiency or quality?

[Sanidad pública: ¿eficiencia o calidad?]

Adela Cortina, El País, 07-09-09

The restructuring of healthcare at the Faith hospital complex in Valencia (to be merged with the University Hospital, and thus dispersing paediatric healthcare across the whole hospital framework), the author, a professor of Moral Philosophy, reflects on the two reasons adduced in its favour: the specialisation of healthcare and the triumph of efficiency over quality. On the first issue, the author says that “it represents progress, provided, however, that it is carried out in a way that does not break up the unity of integrated healthcare”. And on the subject of “efficiency fever” (a problem that arose with the growth of the welfare State and with the justice issues surrounding the distribution of resources it brought with it) the author is clear: the public sector must be efficient, as long as efficiency and equity are compatible and, above all, as long as it maintains the quality of healthcare.

It’s too late to seal a global climate deal. But we need action not Kyoto II

Jeffrey Sachs, The Guardian, 29-11-2009

There are 10 weeks left until the negotiations at Copenhagen and already there’s not enough time to reach a global deal. This isn’t necessarily a failure, provided the USA, Europe, China and India adopt effective measures while a new protocol continues to be negotiated. The question of a global deal is so complex that it can’t be resolved in one go. It needs to be focused on the technological and development differences between rich and poor countries. Rich countries must commit themselves economically and give consideration to the real necessities: developing new technologies and stopping deforestation.

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