All opposition parties for the first time behind a joint midterm issue this election season.
Sdp, The centre, the Greens, the Left Alliance and Liike Nyt left on Thursday an interim question on the shutdown of hospitals.
In their joint interim question, the five opposition parties ask about the future of central hospitals and how the government intends to secure the availability and accessibility of the social and healthcare services guaranteed by the constitution for the residents of all welfare areas throughout the country.
Chairman of the SDP parliamentary group Titti Tuppurainen stated at the press conference organized about the interim question that this is the first joint interim question of the entire opposition this election period.
“Finns are very worried about the intentions of this right-wing government to drive down our country's hospital network and hospital services”, Tuppurainen explained the intermediate question.
Tuppurainen according to the responsible Minister of Social Affairs and Health Kaisa Juuson (ps) the answers to the relevant questions have not convinced the opposition.
Opposition parties charred on Thursday of last week, during the parliament's question hour, Juuso was fiercely criticized about the fate of the Finnish hospital network. Juuso said at the time that no hospital was about to close. At the same time, however, he said that the service network must be made more efficient.
The reform of the hospital network aims to save one hundred million euros.
“It is quite clear from our point of view that the shutdown of the hospital network and hospitals is still being prepared. We want to bring this to light now, and we want an open discussion about this,” Tuppurainen said.
Fluffy scolded Juuso for misleading rhetoric.
“If round-the-clock operations, intensive care and births are eliminated from central hospitals by force of law, then nothing will remain but a large health center and a bed ward,” Tuppurainen said.
“So Juuso can very well claim that the government is not closing down any hospitals, but from the perspective of the citizens and the opposition, the fact is that these empty hospital buildings do not heal anyone, but the question is about services,” Tuppurainen continued.
Hospital network the working group that considered the future announced in January on the subject of the report.
The working group's idea was that in the future each welfare area will have only one hospital on call 24 hours a day – either a university hospital, a central hospital or an acute hospital. In acute hospitals, there would be no round-the-clock availability of operating rooms, births or intensive care.
In January, Juuso did not support the work of the working group he had set up himself, but said that the report had been made completely without a more in-depth analysis of the current situation and impact assessments of different alternatives.
Juuso was asked last week during question time in the parliament, whether the government intends to proceed based on the January report.
“The information that the preparation would continue only on the basis of that report is not true. We also have other options on the table, but no decisions or political policies have been made yet. We are still looking at different impact assessments and looking at different options,” Juuso answered.
According to Juuso, in May he will tell more about the one hundred million euro savings planned for the sector.
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