Minister of Health Jón Kristjánsson has contracted four hospitals to perform almost 600 waiting list operations during 2006. The hospitals are Landspitali in Reykjavík, St Jósef’s in Hafnarfjörður, FSA University Hospital in Akureyri, and a hospital in Akranes. ISK 67 million will be put into the project, ISK 30 million of which will go to Landspitali.
The idea is to reduce time spent on waiting lists. For instance, people currently have to wait 8-9 months for knee operations, compared to 6 months not long ago, so this is one area that will receive priority. Other areas in which there are unacceptably long waiting lists include eye operations and cardiac catheterisation, so these will also be prioritised. In addition, more hip replacements and blood vessel dilation operations will be carried out. The number of eye operations performed will increase by 500 over the year.
