Opens up for patient’s payment

– 50 kroner is most of all a symbolic amount of money, and I don’t think that this will be a financial strain to the students, says Øyvind Gjengaar, leader of The Velferdsting (VT).

According to Gjengaar, the idea is that this will work as an intensive to change general practitioner rather than source of income.

In the future, consultations may cost 50 kroner for students who have not registered The Student Health Services as their main health centre. The background for the decision, which was made on last Monday’s meeting at The Velferdsting, is that for the last couple of years, The Student Health Services has been in demand of more and more money – money which comes from the semester registration fee. In 2006, 14.5 million kroner from the semester registration fee were budgeted to go to the Student Health Services. This amounts to almost 50 per cent.

VT leader Gjengaar stresses that in principle, the Velferdsting is strictly against patient’s payment. He points out that this is something that will be emphasised in the letter they are sending the governing board at The Foundation for Student Life in Oslo. The board will make the final decision in the middle of December, but it is not clear when the patient’s payment, if any, will be carried into effect.

Foreign students not affected

– If the patient’s payment is implemented, the least we can do is to protect as many groups as possible, Gjengaar states.

Among others, this will include the chronically ill, psychiatric patients and foreign students. Students who have registered with a general practitioner at The Student Health Services, will not be affected either. Gjengaar denies that the implementation is against the principle of equal opportunities to education. Instead, he urges as many students as possible to register with a general practitioner at The Student Health Services.

– This will lead to a much better health service to everyone, as the Government subsidises The Student Health Services in accordance to the number of people registered.

Get rid of the freeloaders!

During the meeting on Monday, Benjamin Jonsrud from the left-wing student party Venstrealliansen, proposed that the patient’s payment should be increased from 50 kroner to the general Government rate at 125. In retrospect, he understands that this proposition was far from ideal, as students already pay for the use of health services through the semester registration fee.

– I am very happy with the result. If you expect to get a free medical consultation at the Student Health Services without registering them as your general practitioner, you become a freeloader, said Jonsrud.

Cecilie Daae, medical superintendent at the Student Health Services, was not aware of the details of neither the proposal nor the final decision when Universitas contacted her on Tuesday. Thus, she did not want to make any statements about the case.