Long wait for treatment irks people in Sweden

Stockholm: Asia Nader didn’t know whether to worry more about being diagnosed with a hole in her heart at the age of 21, or having to wait a year for Swedish doctors to fix it. “I completely fell apart when I found out,” she told us, remembering the long agonising months until she finally had her operation in June this year, one month before her 23rd birthday. Sweden has the fifth- highest life expectancy in Europe and cancer survival rates are among the continent’s highest, according to 2017 OECD figures. But Swedes are frustrated over their universal healthcare, one of the main pillars of their cherished welfare state, with long waiting queues due to a shortage of nurses and available doctors in some areas. “Swedes have little confidence that politicians will solve this,” said Lisa Pelling, chief analyst at progressive think tank Arena Ide. “There is a risk their faith in the welfare state will be eroded,” she told us. Swedes, who on average pay more than half of their income in tax, see access to healthcare as the most important issue in the September 9 general election, polls suggest. Prime Minister Stefan Lofven’s Social Democrats, the largest party, are on course for a record low score, after losing voters disgruntled over rising immigration putting a strain on the welfare system to the far- right Sweden Democrats. Swedish law stipulates patients should wait no more than 90 days to undergo surgery or see a specialist. Yet every third patient waits longer, according to government figures. Patients must also see a general practitioner within seven days, the secondlongest deadline in Europe after Portugal ( 15 days). Yet waiting times vary dramatically across Sweden’s 21 counties responsible for financing hospitals. One dental patient in central Dalarna county told us six months passed before his check- up, while emergency room queues at Stockholm’s largest hospitals average four hours. The 2016 nationwide median wait for prostate cancer surgery was 120 days, but 271 days in the northern county of Vasterbotten, official figures show. Swedes also complain about not being able to see their own regular general practitioner — and the ensuing lack of continuity — as a growing number of doctors and nurses are temporary hires employed by staffing companies.