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In October 2017, Helse Nord reported the ophthalmologist on suspicion of fraud by several patients over a period of five years.
The charge was subsequently expanded to cover all patients Kratholm has treated.
The indictment comprises approximately 32,000 individual frauds and has a scope of approximately DKK 12 million.
In June, Jens Kratholm lost the right to call himself an ophthalmologist and an eye specialist.
The Norwegian Board of Health concluded that the controversial Narvik ophthalmologist was unfit to practice medicine and that the treatment he was undergoing was unjustifiable.
When NRK met Jens Kratholm in July, he admitted that he was not justified in working as hard as he had.
– You have to work more than eight hours a day. And that is clear. Like driving on 130 in zone 60, it is not justified. And Helse Nord knows it, Kratholm said.
Violent influx of patients
Over 20 years have passed since the Danish ophthalmologist arrived in Narvik, where he secured a deal with Helse Nord as a so-called deal specialist.
Since 1997, according to his own figures, he has had 170,000 inquiries. It has performed 15,000 gray star operations.
According to Brennpunkt’s “The Money Specialists” program, the Narvik Eye Clinic operated around 2000 more for cataracts than all the Rikshospitalet ophthalmologists. Together.
Kratholm, for his part, defended the large number of operations. He has been referring to the ethical standards of physicians which state that, as a physician, a patient is not denied treatment unless he is reasonably certain that he can receive treatment from another physician.
Kratholm says the capacity of ophthalmologists has skyrocketed in northern Norway.
– It is the responsibility of Helse Nord to provide enough ophthalmologists. It has been a tremendous process for us, which is why we have worked most of the day.
Denounced for fraud, responded with counter notification
In 2017, Helse Nord reported the ophthalmologist to the police. He was arrested in a police operation at the Narvik Eye Clinic in April last year, and several patients accused him of serious fraud over several years.
He himself has always denied that he did not pay too much. You have always claimed that you have adhered to the tariff regulations for every year.
When NRK spoke to him this summer, he thought the problem was that Helse Nord didn’t may the fee brochure.
– I have adhered to the rate regulations for all years. Patients suspect that they have paid too much and contact Helse Nord, who cannot help them because they do not understand the fee rules. So Helse Nord tries to explain this further to the police, without even understanding the regulations, he claimed.
In September, he himself went to the police to inform his former client.
In the review, Kratholm states that Helse Nord is said to have misled thousands of ophthalmology patients in the Hålogaland region from 2010 to today.
In the review, Kratholm estimates that the fraud amounts to NOK 100 million since 2010.
The police have dropped this case.
– The reason is that no reasonable reason has been found to investigate whether a crime has been committed, says prosecutor Martin Arneng Varsi in the Nordland police district.
NRK has tried to contact both Jens Kratholm and his lawyer Tor Strand, but has so far been unsuccessful.
