After 15 years of debate over its location, state health authorities have decided against building a new hospital for the large and growing area around Lake Mjøsa in any of the region’s four largest cities. Instead of placing the hospital in either Hamar, Elverum, Gjøvik or Lillehammer, it will be built at Moelv, where the main E6 highway through the area crosses the lake at the bridge called Mjøsbrua.
The solution appeared to meet everyone half-way. No single city was favoured while the Moelv area will gain a major employer and potential jobs, not least during the construction phase. The smaller hospitals already located in the four cities will be transformed into acute- and outpatient-care facilities, while the new hospital will be for round-the-clock emergency care and those needing admission.
Environmental and transport experts were still complaining, because all residents of the Mjøsa region’s population centers will have to travel to the new hospital when it opens in 2026, at the earliest.
newsinenglish.no staff
