Hundreds appeal for better Borrelia treatment

Norwegians suffering from what they believe is Borrelia infection caused by the bite of a tick (called flått in Norwegian) gathered outside the Norwegian Parliament on Friday to appeal for better treatment. They claim local doctors don’t take their ailments seriously, and don’t have enough treatment expertise. Among those speaking and confronting politicians was local [...]

State set to allow heroin smoking

Health Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, claiming that the heroin overdose rate in Norway is “shamefully” high, wants to allow addicts to smoke the illegal drug under controlled circumstances. Støre thinks that will lower consumption and overdoses, and he has full support for his proposal from the rest of the government. Norway has long ranked at or [...]

Doctor facing death wins big prize

Dr Per Fugelli, a general practitioner in Norway who’s lately advocated more openness around death while dealing with a cancer diagnosis himself, has been awarded this year’s Freedom of Expression Prize from the country’s Fritt Ord Foundation. Fugelli, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, won the award for “having given a voice to cancer [...]

Breastfeeding advocate retires

Norway’s internationally renowned obstetrician and breastfeeding advocate Dr Gro Nylander is retiring this week after a long career, but she’s not leaving without voicing her concerns. She fears a shift towards shorter maternity leave in Norway could lead to a drop in the number of women breastfeeding, and claims that increased paternity leave is a [...]

Health minister rejects more wine and tobacco restrictions

A commission of health care experts has proposed a new list of restrictions to further discourage consumption of tobacco and alcohol but Heath Minister Jonas Gahr Støre apparently thinks they went a bit far. He quickly rejected several of their recommendations. The commission wanted to ban chewing tobacco in Norway known as snus, and limit [...]

Support grows for GPS dementia care

A GPS system that can track the location of patients suffering from dementia may become a reality in Norway if the health minister gets his way. Such a system, it’s believed, will give these patients more freedom to get out more often, and the state agency charged with ensuring Norwegians’ right to privacy now supports [...]

Doctors, nurses flee ‘sick’ hospital

Both doctors and nurses are resigning from their jobs at the relatively new Akershus University Hospital northeast of Oslo, just when the hospital desperately needs more staff. The medical professionals, though, are literally sick of the ongoing problems at the hospital. The hospital known mostly as “Ahus” has been plagued by short-staffing and “growing pains” [...]

Health authorities ignite new anti-smoking campaign

Nearly half-a-million Norwegians have stopped smoking since 1995, but health authorities still aren’t satisfied. They launched yet another anti-smoking campaign this week, aimed at encouraging even more Norwegians to stump out their cigarettes for good. Strict laws against smoking in public places, along with punitive taxes on tobacco and bans on any form of advertising [...]

Hospital drawn into indictment for exploitation of Filipina nurses

Prosecutors in Oslo have indicted both Oslo University Hospital and a couple who arranged jobs at the hospital for three nurses from the Philippines who are believed to have been seriously exploited. The couple, initially charged with human trafficking, is now charged with violating immigration laws and exploiting the three women, with the hospital as [...]

Swine flu death sets off a scare

The death of an 11-year-old boy to swine flu over the New Year’s weekend has sent scores of Norwegians to emergency clinics in recent days. They fear they have the same dreaded strain of flu, but officials claim there’s no epidemic. The boy from Porsgrunn had been admitted first to his local hospital in Telemark [...]

Government flunks welfare test

Another new public opinion poll shows that only 10 percent of Norwegians think their primary welfare services – schools, health- and elder care – have improved in recent years. Nearly 30 percent now have less faith that Norway’s public sector will deliver the services individual Norwegians need and can demand.  The results of the poll, [...]

Norwegians visit the dentist abroad

More and more Norwegians are rebelling against jaw-droppingly high dental fees in their home country, and hopping on a plane to Budapest or other cities in countries like Poland or even Sweden where the quality of dental care is high and prices relatively low. Some dentists in the Hungarian capital now cater almost exclusively to [...]

Probe demanded into hospital crisis

All the opposition parties in the Norwegian Parliament are demanding a full, independent investigation into the merger of Oslo-area hospitals that’s blamed for short-staffing, enormous frustration among doctors and nurses and even the deaths of some patients. The calls come after the state Auditor General himself declared that the merger seriously affected patient care. Jørgen Kosmo, [...]

Health boss quits, critics relieved

Bente Mikkelsen, who’s been at the center of a storm of criticism over health care in southeastern Norway, quit her top bureaucratic post Thursday night, a week after finally admitting to poor planning in the opening of Akershus University Hospital. Mikkelsen insisted on Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK)’s nightly news program Dagsrevyen Thursday that she chose to resign [...]

New Ahus hospital caught in crisis

Akershus University Hospital, better known as Ahus in Lørenskog  just northeast of Oslo, was supposed to be Norway’s most modern and largest acute-care hospital when it opened four years ago. Politicians and administrators, however, failed to provide for adequate staffing and now a high-profile board member has resigned after another case of malpractice resulted in [...]

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