Spend the tax-payer money wisely

From the roof of my hotel in Barcelona, I see the calm Mediterranean Sea on one side and the Sagrada Familia on the other side. Looking at this incredibly beautiful architecture, you see one of the spectacular buildings that Antoni Gaudi has left as his legacy in this beautiful city. Two years ago, there were about half a million people protesting the police actions in response to calls for independence in Catalonia. I am not going into the politics or making a statement about who is right or wrong. The only point I want to make is that a lot of taxpayer money is used to deal with political unrest. Money that could have been used differently.

During that time there was also unrest that was threatening to so many people. Just think of Myanmar, Syria, the Korean peninsula. Today we don’t know what will happen in the Middle East. A lot of money is and will be used to deal with these conflicts. Money that could be used differently.

Then we see the ongoing saga in Europe as a result of Brexit. A lot of taxpayer money will be used to deal with the consequences. Money that could be used differently.

Another example of questionable use of taxpayer money includes the expensive monthly caravan to bring all members of the European Parliament and their documentation from Brussels to Strasbourg and back. Month after month. Money that could be used differently.

Another interesting example is what happened after the election in The Netherlands. After more than 6 months of negotiations, a new Cabinet was formed. One of the decisions was to rename the “Department of Safety and Justice” to “Department of Justice and Safety”. Now all stationary, business cards, email and more needed to be changed for many millions of taxpayer money. Money that could be used differently.

The sad thing is that persons with genetic disorders are in the middle of this. They don’t ask for their diseases, they ask for a cure and hope for a normal life. It is very difficult to understand why so much taxpayer money is spent to questionable decision-making. It would be so much better if that money could be used differently.

I stay away from the political debate and instead focus on helping patients in different parts of the world to have unlimited access to life-saving plasma protein therapies. The costs for these therapies only 2 percent of the total costs for medication used in the world. The therapies are truly different than the traditional therapeutics made by Big Pharma. Though the plasma protein therapeutics industry is small in comparison, the enormous contribution made to the recipients of these therapies is the chance for a normal life. Taxpayer money could be much better spent to provide good care to patients, especially those with life-threatening genetic conditions.