The political leadership in Region Skåne protests against the Swedish Social Insurance Agency’s decision to reintroduce the requirement for a medical certificate when applying for sickness benefit or for compensation for care of a sick child.
In an open letter to the authority, the region appeals for the decision to be reconsidered.
– I think that is a very strange decision. When we have a sharp increase in the spread of infection in society, we will introduce something that greatly increases the administration in care, but which also increases the risk with, for example, covid patients who have to go to care to get a medical certificate, says Gilbert Tribo (L ), chairman of the health and medical care committee in Region Skåne.
Yesterday, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency announced that the requirement for a medical certificate when applying for sickness benefit or for compensation for the care of children is reintroduced from the first of November. It was temporarily abolished in March, to relieve the heavily burdened care. Försäkringskassan’s legal director, Michael Erliksson, justified in Ekot yesterday the decision to reintroduce the requirement.
– We have assessed that the care now has the capacity to be able to return to normal handling to issue medical certificates that we need in our handling of sickness benefit cases and temporary parental benefit, he said.
But Gilbert Tribo does not agree.
– I consider this to be a completely wrong priority. We must instead use the health care resources to fight covid-19 but also to graze on the care queues that we have built up, he says.
The letter from the health and medical care board in Region Skåne has been written in broad political agreement and also sent to, among others, responsible ministers. According to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency’s press service, the authority has not yet seen the letter.
In Skåne, as in many other parts of the country, the infection is now rising, and last week the number of infected was the highest ever in the region. The risk that the burden will increase rapidly in healthcare again is great, according to Gilbert Tribo, who hopes the Swedish Social Insurance Agency will rethink.
– I think it is completely unreasonable to make such a decision in the middle of the pandemic, when we must instead gather strength to fight covid-19, he says.
Source: ICELAND NEWS