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Almost half of the regions reached the maximum ceiling to test covid-19 last week. The Minister of Social Affairs, Lena Hallengren, (S) has asked the regions, the Public Health Agency and the National Board of Health and Welfare for a crisis meeting on the tests. At the meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday, Hallengren wants to know why the regions cannot prove as much as the demand.
According to the County Administrative Boards Photographs of situation There are several types of problems: for example, lack of personnel and test equipment. Several regions also claim that they lack sufficient laboratory capacity. One example is Västra Götaland, which last week peaked and was forced to reduce testing by 25 percent to ensure sampling from priority groups such as patients and care staff.
Out of about 30,000 tests per week, the region received help with 10,000 tests through labs purchased nationwide by the Public Health Agency, then stopped.
– I fully understand that they cannot do it, but there was no national alternative that we could use, says Ann Söderström, director of health and medical care at Västra Götaland.
Read more: General meetings are limited to eight people
She’s tired of all the healing time blames each other and believes that national coordination should have been established at an early stage.
– Sometimes you put all the blame on the regions. We must see this as a collaborative project if we are to be successful, he says and continues:
– We do a great job in the regions with testing, but we need help with laboratory capacity. Now, as a region, we go out and buy outside the borders of Sweden. It certainly could have been done better with a nationally raised acquisition.
Västra Götaland has asked Germany for help. As of Monday, the region sends around 1,000 samples a day to German laboratories.
The Norrbotten region is also seeking help outside the country.according to Anna-Stina Nordmark Nilsson, Norrbotten Regional Director.
– We have reached the ceiling with what are our own laboratories and the volumes that we have in the external laboratories in Uppsala. We need to find resources elsewhere. There I hope that greater national coordination can be achieved. Let the government help us through contact with Finland or other countries, he says.
Anna-Stina Nordmark Nilsson also calls for coordination, national or regional.
– I think that in Sweden or in the northern regions we must unite. But if the regions cannot do it, someone in general should help us.
The Swedish Public Health Agency and the government has repeatedly put the blame on the regions for not conducting enough testing. This irritates Mikael Johansson, (M), president of the regional board in Kronoberg.
– They blame themselves. The government does not fulfill its promise in the agreement made with SKR, (municipalities and regions of Sweden), in June.
The agreement between the government and SKR, which runs until December 31 this year, establishes that the state, through the Swedish Public Health Agency, will guarantee access to “a national analytical capacity that regions can use. as subcontractors “.
When Kronoberg reached the test ceiling So last week they turned to the Swedish Public Health Agency for more nationally procured lab tests. But according to Mikael Johansson, Karin Tegmark Wisell, head of department at the Swedish Public Health Agency, responded that they could not distribute new analyzes to the region until week 48, next week.
The Swedish Public Health Agency responds to DN’s questions in writing and claims that the request for trial analysis from contracted actors has increased, but that it takes time. They hope to be able to allocate additional analytical capacity to the regions that requested it next week.
“Increased demand from many regions at the same time cannot be met overnight, but it takes 1-2 weeks,” Karin Tegmark Wisell writes to DN.
The Swedish Public Health Agency believes they are honoring last summer’s agreement, which will ensure access to national analyzes.
“State-acquired actors now account for nearly 50 percent of PCR testing and have been steadily increasing in test volume and participation over the past few months. “
The Swedish Public Health Agency says around 200,000 tests a week were expected to be carried out before autumn, but had to scale up. Week 45 had a capacity of 260,000 tests, of which 234,000 were carried out.
Why didn’t you get more lab tests at an earlier stage?
“Acquiring laboratory capacity is costly and gradually expanding capacity according to the needs of the regions is the most responsible management.”
Despite several regions calling for greater national responsibility to produce more laboratory tests, the Swedish Public Health Agency believes that the main responsibility lies with the regions and that state support is a complement to the testing capacity of the regions themselves. .
“Regions cannot rely on long-term state aid for testing, but must also expand their own testing capacity to meet long-term needs.”
