Greenlandic authorities are hoping that around 80 patients can be sent from Greenland to hospitals in Iceland for treatment every year. Greenland’s Minister of Health Agathe Fintain is currently in Iceland with a Greenlandic delegation to discuss this proposal.
From Greenland. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
One or two patients from Greenland are already being treated at hospitals in Iceland and Fintain is keen on expanding this cooperation. Currently, Greenlandic patients are being treated in Denmark, ruv.is reports.
Patients in need of intensive care would be the first to arrive, mostly premature babies and heart and kidney patients. Next, people requiring specialized operations would come; the waiting list for knee and hip surgeries, for example, is long in Greenland.
According to the Greenlandic state radio, it costs around ISK 10 million (USD 82,000, EUR 54,000) per year to transport patients to Denmark. That cost could be reduced by half if they were treated in Iceland instead.
Fintain met with her Icelandic counterpart Álfheidur Ingadóttir yesterday morning and will also meet representatives of the Landspítali national hospital in Reykjavík and FSA, the hospital in Akureyri.
