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This weekend, the occupancy of intensive care units in the Stockholm region skyrocketed to 101 percent. On Tuesday, Health Director Björn Eriksson declared that the occupancy rate was well above 100 percent and suggested that all care providers postpone all non-emergency care.
But the Stockholm Region is not the only one under great pressure from the pandemic. To cope with the pressure, even regions with little spread of infection must increase the number of intensive care units.
In the next step, Sweden can ask neighboring countries for help.
Now Denmark says they have already asked Sweden.
“The Ministry of Health and the Elderly can report that Denmark is ready to help our Swedish neighbors in this dire situation. From the Danish side we have contacted the Swedes to offer them our help, ”the ministry wrote in an email to DN.
According to the ministry, there is good and close cooperation between the Nordic countries in the Nordic health contingency group.
“We have not yet received a request through him, but if we do, the health authorities will quickly assess how we can help. Because obviously we want to help, if we can do it without compromising the capacity of the Danish health system ”.
Iceland is also positive to help Sweden.
Swedish authorities help Iceland with the purchase and delivery of covid-19 vaccines. Of course, the Icelandic authorities will seriously consider what Iceland could help Sweden in the fight against covid if a formal request came from the Swedish authorities. We have not received any such request yet, “writes Birgir Jakobsson, medical adviser to the Icelandic Minister of Health, in an email to DN.
However, he cannot answer what it is about.
“This inventory should be done as long as a possible request arrives, but any of this could be questioned depending on the situation of the pandemic in this country.”
Nordic flags.
Photo: Erik Mårtensson / TT
Therefore, everyone has The countries of the Nordic countries have said that they are ready to help Sweden.
At the end of last week, the Chancellor of the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Kirsi Varhila, declared that they could leave vacancies for Swedish patients who needed care, even though they themselves were burdened by the pandemic.
“We have not received any official request for help, but we assess the care situation on a daily basis and of course we are prepared to help Sweden if we can,” he told Svenska Dagbladet.
Finland cannot share the health staff, but is willing to help Sweden in other ways.
– The Nordic countries are cooperating closely on these issues and if the situation in Finland is under control, there is a quick readiness to help Sweden. That possibility has yet to be evaluated according to the prevailing situation when a possible question for help arises, Kirsi Varhila told Svenska Dagbladet.
Soon after, Norway declared They also wanted to help if they received a formal request.
– If the Swedish authorities turn to us for help, we will have a positive attitude about it, said Secretary of State Maria Jahrmann Bjerke from the Ministry of Health and Care Services to NRK.
Norway has previously helped other European countries, including sending healthcare teams to Italy this spring.
– The team consists of 20 to 25 nurses, doctors and logistics personnel. These come from hospitals scattered across the country, and therefore the burden for each individual hospital is small, says Maria Jahrmann Bjerke.
DN has contacted the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services, which states that they cannot yet answer what they could help Sweden with.
“If we receive an inquiry, we will immediately clarify what we have available from those who are in demand,” Lars Gjemble writes in the ministry’s communications unit in an email.
Johanna Sandwall, chief of emergency preparedness for the National Board of Health and Welfare.
Photo: Pontus Lundahl / TT
The chief of emergency preparedness of the National Board of Health and Welfare Johanna Sandwall says in a written comment to DN that the authority has not yet asked for help from other countries and that there are currently no such plans.
“The health care situation is very tense in various parts of the country, but we have available capacity at the national level to meet the need for care at this time,” he writes.
Sandwall believes that the Nordic cooperation agreement requires Sweden to have done everything possible and taken all measures at the national level to expand health capacity.
“If our capacity is still not enough, we can ask for help. At the moment, we do not judge that the risk is particularly great, but it is about how we all follow the restrictions that exist.
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