According to figures published by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) on Tuesday, almost 160,000 patients in Finland were waiting for emergency medical care in hospital districts across the country in December.
This represents an increase of 17,000 people from December 2020, and the average waiting time for patients is 1-2 months.
By the end of 2021, for example, a total of 11,000 people were waiting for cataract surgery in Finnish hospitals and 7,600 patients in the knee or hip surgery queue.
As hospitals continue to treat Covid patients, the queues for non-emergency care are unlikely to decrease significantly in the near future, according to THL.
"The Covid epidemic continues to slow down access to treatment," THL Development Manager Pia Tuominen wrote in a press release. "The number of waiters will increase as more patients enter. All patients should be treated according to their urgent care needs."
The situation was exacerbated last year by a shortage of health care personnel.
More positively, Tuominen emphasized that the number of children and young people waiting for treatment for more than half a year in the mental health services sector has started to decline.
Large differences between hospital districts
THL figures also revealed that about 7 percent of patients waiting for treatment โ that is, about 10,800 people โ have been in the queue for more than six months. This is about 3,200 patients more than a year ago.
The majority of those who have been waiting for treatment for more than half a year were in the Kymenlaakso hospital district in south-eastern Finland, where a little over one in ten patients have been in the queue for more than half a year.
In contrast, in South Karelia, only about one percent of patients have waited more than half a year.
However, the increase in the number of people waiting several months for urgent medical treatment is not just a phenomenon of the Covid era.
THL’s statistical report also outlined how the number of people waiting for treatment for three to six months has gradually increased since 2017.
Source: The Nordic Page