Norwegian health care workers have taken to the streets to protest against budget cuts at hospitals and nursing homes.
State-run hospitals all over the country have been ordered to cut expenses and staffing.
That has resulted in entire wards being shut down and longer waits for non-critical operations and other procedures, while doctors and nurses are quitting to work in the more lucrative private sector.
Critics claim that patients are relegated to beds placed in hospital corridors, while a popular maternity unit in Oslo that catered to those wanting natural deliveries has shut.
A nurse taking part in the demonstrations, Tina Tuft, said the aim was to open the eyes of the Government to how the cuts affected many people and the public health service.
“We can’t stand to see health care services decline in one of the world’s wealthiest countries,” Ms Tuft said.
The protests follow Minister for Health, Ingvild Kjerkol calling on hospital administrators to set their own “tougher priorities” and identify what they “can do less of”.
She also asked them to reduce over-use of laboratories and X-rays and even identify “treatment methods that can be phased out”.
Ms Kjerkol claimed that the most expensive and risky treatment often had poor outcomes.
Political opponents were also quick to react, with some calling Ms Kjerkol’s demands “a slap in the face to the nearly 250,000 Norwegians waiting in line for health care procedures”.
Oslo, 3 March 2023
