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The Oslo Labor Party does not get a warm embrace from the party centrally when it wants to preserve Ullevål, develop Gaustad and build a new one in Aker.
Labor Party health policy spokesperson Ingvild Kjerkol opposes the decision of the Oslo Labor Party board to preserve three public hospitals in Oslo. Photograph: STIAN LYSBERG SOLUM / NTB
– It is good that the Oslo Labor Party is increasing pressure on Nye Aker Hospital. It is urgent to start with new construction to guarantee local hospital services for the population of Oslo in modern buildings.
This is what Aps health policy spokesperson Ingvild Kjerkol tells Aftenposten. So far, but no longer supports the Oslo Ap board decision.
On Tuesday night, the Oslo party board of directors turned around and went in to preserve Ullevål hospital.
– We have received clear feedback from our people, Oslo Labor leader Frode Jacobsen told Dagsavisen.
‘Ullevål Hospital should be included as part of the future Oslo hospital structure. This ensures that Oslo can obtain the hospital services we need, “the statement said.
Labor Central believes there will be too many
The Oslo party’s decision means that it says yes to three things:
- Yes, to a new hospital in Aker for all of Groruddalen.
- Yes to further develop Gaustad.
- Yes to keep Ullevål.
– We, as a party, must take care of the whole country, says Kjerkol, who therefore does not support what he considers a wish of the Oslo party for “three emergency hospitals in Oslo”.
– We cannot have three times more specialists in Oslo without it being to the detriment of the rest of the country, he says. Kjerkol adds that there are only a few minutes of distance between these hospitals.
Indicates an uneven distribution of resources
– We only have the professionals we have. Besides Nye Aker, Gaustad / Rikshospitalet and Ullevål, Oslo also has the non-profit hospitals that have agreements with the public: Diakonhjemmet Hospital and Lovisenberg. His public functions will be expanded in the coming years.
Kjerkol reminds us that the Haukeland Hospital in Bergen, in comparison, is a teaching hospital and a local hospital for 450-500,000 inhabitants. It also has a regional function for one million inhabitants. It also points out that St. Olav Hospital in Trondheim is a local hospital for almost 330,000 inhabitants and has regional functions for almost 730,000 inhabitants.
Strong pressure from below in Oslo
There has long been a heated internal debate about hospitals in the Oslo Labor Party. The party had previously emphasized the need for a new hospital in Aker, but has so far agreed to close Ullevål when a new one is built in Rikshospitalet.
Both Aps leader Jonas Gahr Støre and city council leader Raymond Johansen have previously expressed that the fight for the continued operation of Ullevål may delay development at Aker and jeopardize all hospital service in the region. But locally, in the Oslo Labor Party, many have wanted to say more.
An incipient uprising from Ullevål was expected before the annual Oslo Ap.
– I think many of our union members and stewards who met with voters in the 2019 election campaign found it difficult to explain our position in the hospital case, Frode Jacobsen told Dagsavisen. He said that “the feedback has been clear.”
– So, the board has also seen the need for a clearer decision because safety for people’s health and hospital services is one of the central themes of the party, he said.
Bøhler thought the Labor Party had “screwed up” it.
The Labor Party restructuring operation comes after the party’s former parliamentary representative Jan Bøhler announced a transfer to the Socialist People’s Party. When it happened, he said the Labor Party had been “wrong” about the hospital.
– It is the Center Party that has the power to save the Aker and Ullevål hospitals. The outcome of the elections in Oslo will be of great importance for the government negotiations after the elections. With that case alone, I hope that many will vote for us, Bøhler told Aftenposten last fall. He added that “Labor has allowed itself to be governed by the bureaucracy, unlike us who are close to the people.”
Final decision later this month
The decision of the Oslo Ap board will be submitted for final consideration at the Oslo Ap Oversight Board on February 16. But now everything indicates that in the Oslo city hall only the conservatives say no to the preservation of Ullevål.
The Oslo Labor Party has not ruled on the kind of hospital they want in Ullevål, whether, for example, they are local hospital functions or regional functions.
