Swine flu claims another victim

A woman who was diagnosed with swine flu died earlier this week at the National Hospital in Oslo (Rikshospitalet). Her death was the third tied to swine flu in Norway in recent weeks, after an 11-year-old boy from Porsgrunn died in December and a man died over the weekend at the hospital in Ålesund. A [...]

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” [...]

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 [...]

New Year’s baby boom in Drammen

Three babies were born within the first five minutes of 2013 at the hospital in Drammen, west of Oslo, beating out the hospital in Volda that initially thought it could lay claim to this year’s official New Year’s baby in Norway. That honor went to a family of three (now four) in Drammen, when a [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

More trouble for big Oslo hospital

Norway’s largest hospital, formed through a highly controversial merger of several hospitals in the capital, is now grappling with questionable hiring practices that have led to charges of human trafficking. The case involves three nurses from the Philippines whose jobs at Oslo University Hospital were arranged though a Norwegian man to whom they became indebted. [...]

Waiting list ‘tricks’ under probe

Frustrated patients in Oslo who find themselves stuck on hospital waiting lists have clearly discovered that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Their success at demanding their rights and jumping the queue has set off an ethical dilemma and yet another political uproar for Health Minister Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen. The latest controversy erupted late last week, [...]

More hospital patients get treatment

Norway’s embattled hospital authorities now contend that more patients are receiving treatment in a more timely fashion after years of complaints, at least in the state health care department’s southeastern region. Bente Mikkelsen, the leader of Helse Sør-Øst who’s been under fire for months over her handling of a controversial hospital reorganization in Oslo, told [...]

Embattled boss won’t go on leave

Bente Mikkelsen, head of the embattled state health agency that’s pushing through a controversial hospital reorganization in Oslo, has dropped plans to take off for five months in Rome, to attend a leadership course. While many of Mikkelsen’s opponents think she does need more leadership training, their fury sunk her plans for an all-expenses-paid absence. [...]

Unusual baby boom baffles experts

There’s been a major boom in the numbers of babies born in Oslo and Akershus County before their mothers get to a hospital. Researchers are so puzzled by the boom that they’ve launched a study to find out what’s behind it. Newspaper Aftenposten reports that around 450 babies were born in the Oslo area last [...]

Trusted adviser tackles ‘toughest’ job

One of the most trusted advisers to embattled Health Minister Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen was taking over one of the Norwegian health sector’s toughest jobs on Wednesday. Dr Bjørn Erikstein, the new director of Oslo University Hospital, backs Strøm-Erichsen’s controversial merger of Oslo’s largest hospitals but promises to listen to staff complaints. Erikstein is a physician and [...]

Another hospital protest in Oslo

Demonstrators gathered in front of the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo once again this week, to protest the controversial merger of the capital’s largest hospitals. The merger continues to spark complaints from health care personnel and patients alike. It was organized by employee organizations at Aker Hospital, which is set to be closed, along with support [...]

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