Three to four per cent of young Icelandic females struggle with eating disorders. According to the radio station Bylgjan, one to three women make first time visits to the emergency unit of the psychiatric department every week. This measurement does not reflect the seriousness of the problem since many women are sick at home and do not seek help, or seek help at private clinics.
Psychiatrist Gudlaug Thorsteinsdóttir said that the Department of Psychiatry, at the University Hospital, was under no circumstances sufficiently prepared to treat all these women. In order to do so better hospital, out-patient and rehabilitation facilities were needed.
Jón Kristjánsson, minister of health has promised ISK 16 – 18 million that will allow the department to add four positions to focus on eating disorders.
For the past week the media has carried reports of doctors leaving the University Hospital because of bad management and morale. The head physical therapist for the psychiatric unit says in the Fréttabladid today that working at the hospital “threatens the health of people with ideals”.
