The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oslo
Press Division

Norway Daily no. 45/01

Date: 6 March 2001

Health workers mobilize against hospital reform plans (Dagsavisen)

The Norwegian Union of Municipal Employees (AOF) and the Norwegian Association of Health and Social Care Personnel (NHS) are mobilizing their forces against the proposed reform of the hospital service. Yesterday they demonstrated outside a meeting of the Labour Party’s national committee. "It doesn’t matter to us whether the hospitals are owned by the county authorities or the central government, but we do not want them to be organized as enterprises in the way the Government is proposing. It is not an appropriate way to organize hospitals," says Bjørg Li Stein of the NHS. The organizations now drawing up in battle formation against Health Minister Tore Tønne will be no pushover. They have almost 300,000 members behind them.

Internet help to end hospital waiting lists (Nationen/Aftenposten)

There is not much point being able to choose which hospital to be treated at if neither doctors or patients know where they can get the best treatment with the least possible delay. The newly formed company GetMedics aims to have a full overview of all the country’s hospital services available on its internet page. In this way waiting lists can be eradicated. "In our opinion this is a service which the public health authorities should be providing," says Ingeborg Traaholt of the Norwegian Patients’ Association, who believes there will soon be other players in the market.

All day at school (Dagsavisen)

The youngsters of tomorrow will not be left to wander the streets alone. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg wants to keep pupils at school through the afternoons, give them a hot meal and a choice of leisure activities. Children and young people are the Labour Party’s main campaign theme in the run up to the general election this autumn. Yesterday the PM presented a comprehensive list of possible measures aimed at children and young people. He promises to do something about the country’s many dilapidated school buildings and to introduce a bill guaranteeing children’s rights to a safe atmospheric environment indoors.

Kleppe soon out of the party (Verdens Gang)

Today – or Wednesday – the Progress Party will pass a resolution excluding Vidar Kleppe from the party. The Progress Party’s parliamentary group will be discussing Kleppe’s exclusion at a meeting today. It is the Progress Party’s national executive committee who must formally vote to expel Mr Kleppe from the party. This may be done as soon as the parliamentary group has completed its discussions. "We can call together the national executive committee at very short notice if a request of this nature is made by the parliamentary group," says party general secretary Geir Moe.

Nagell-Erichsen tipped off (Aftenposten)

The National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime believes that top stock broker Jan Petter Collier is the man who told Einar Christian Nagell-Erichsen that Storebrand was about to make an offer for Finansbanken. Mr Collier was Storebrand’s financial adviser when the company acquired Finansbanken shortly afterwards. The alleged tip from such a centrally placed individual as Mr Collier is the reason behind the National Authority’s current investigation of Mr Nagell-Erichsen for insider trading. It is claimed that Mr Nagell-Erichsen purchased shares in Finansbanken after receiving the alleged tip off. The penalty for insider trading is from one to six years imprisonment.

Special treatment condemned by ethics committee (Aftenposten)

The ethics committee of the Stockbrokers’ Association has condemned Telenor, the Government and stockbrokers DnB Markets for the last minute postponement of the final deadline for the share subscription period, when Telenor was floated on the stock exchange at the end of last year. The postponement led to certain investors unfairly receiving special treatment, says the committee, whose members believe that both Telenor and the Government acted illegally in connection with the postponement. What has saved DnB Markets from more than just criticism is that the stockbrokers themselves did not instigate the postponement.

Criticism rejected (Dagens Næringsliv)

Neither the Ministry of Trade and Industry nor Telenor are willing to accept the criticism of Stockbrokers’ Assciation’s ethics committee, and reject that any offence was committed in connection with the partial privatization of Telenor. The issue in question involves two technical details about the way the transaction was handled, regarding which there are differing legal opinions. "We can do nothing more than take note that the ethics committee has an opinion on the matter. We have also received other opinions of a legal and professional nature," says Secretary General Reier Søberg of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Worth Noting

• Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Agriculture Minister Bjarne Håkon Hanssen are taking a huge gamble, and are hoping that delaying an import ban on food is a good bet. However, both Denmark and Germany have now announced that they are to introduce stricter controls than Norway. (Dagbladet)
• There could be meat shortages in the shops if the Government bans imports at a later stage – particularly if people start stockpiling. (Aftenposten)
• After several weeks where the focus has been on sex scandals and allegations of rape within the Progress Party, Justice Minister Hanne Harlem has now announced measures to make it easier for women who have been raped to report the incident to the police. (Verdens Gang)
• Several thousand Norwegian bank customers are the victims of blatant discrimination. While the privileged enjoy free seminars and personal service, ordinary customers have to put up with costly cash dispensers on the street corner. (Dagbladet)
• Stockbrokers are now advising investors to buy fish farming shares. While the fear of foot-and-mouth disease paralyzes Europe, fish shares are going through the roof. (Verdens Gang)
• Norway has replaced Saudi Arabia as France’s largest supplier of oil. France purchased 24 per cent of its oil imports from Norway last year, while oil from Saudi Arabia accounted for only 18 per cent of French imports.
• The state-employed wolf hunters currently operating in Østerdalen have been reported to the police for allegedly having shot and wounded a wolf without pursuing the injured animal. Pro-wolf activists claim that the hunters no longer know which animals they are shooting at. These claims have been rejected by the hunt leaders. (Dagbladet)
• The wedding between Crown Prince Haakon and Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby will take place 25 August at 5 pm in Oslo Cathedral . The celebrations will last for three days and several hundred guests will be invited. (All newspapers)

Today’s comment from Verdens Gang

The Government is aiming at an ambitious target. It wants to put an end to duplication of effort and unclear lines of responsibility within the health service. Work will be carried out more efficiently and we will all get more health for our kroner – or our billions of kroner. In addition, the health authorities will gain a much better overview of the standard of health in this country, so that money may be invested where it is most needed. This will be good for both you and me. Centralization of hospital ownership is also part of the reform. In this area a number of holy cows will be led to the slaughter, and a great many people will feel threatened along the way, as the current round of consultations will doubtless prove. Powerful organizations will almost certainly feel that their interests in particular have not been taken well enough into account, and start rattling their sabres. Countries with which we like to compare ourselves in other contexts, are far ahead of us in important healthcare areas. The ranking list published by the World Health Organization shows that Norway still has quite a way to go. Such a situation cannot and should not exist in one of the world’s richest countries. We would be the first to admit that the current plans are not above criticism, but the Government is definitely on the right road.