Health preparedness five years after corona

March 12 is 5 years since Norway was shut down because of the corona pandemic. Today, the health and care service and society are better prepared than we were in 2020. With a troubled world and the possibility of new pandemics, it is important that we continue to strengthen emergency preparedness.

As a society, we learned a lot from the pandemic. We were seriously seen what worked and where we were not well enough prepared when the crisis hit us. It has been important to follow up the lessons from the pandemic with specific measures. Last year, the Government presented Norway's first health emergency report and in January this year the Total Emergency Report was presented.

We have established a contingency committee for infection control, a health crisis council, and we revise the pandemic planning. The hospitals have plans for how to handle larger infection waves. This means that the most important players regularly meet, make plans and practice handling new crises. Although health preparedness is good, we can get better. We have increased the number of educational positions for intensive care nurses since 2020, but the need is still great for this important competence.

The pandemic also showed us how vulnerable we are alone. We saw how countries had to share knowledge, equipment, medicines and vaccines. Therefore, the government has decided that Norway should work to become part of the EU's strengthened health preparedness cooperation, on the same terms as the EU's member states as possible. We work with this too full. Through such cooperation, we can ensure quick access to vaccines and medicines, and coordinate our response when a crisis framework. In a global health crisis, we stand stronger with our closest neighbors.

One of the weaknesses we saw was a lack of infection control equipment and other medical consumables. A national emergency response to infection control equipment has been established by the regional health authorities. In addition, the municipalities will have warehouses for normal consumption as a first -line preparedness until deliveries from the national emergency store reaches the municipalities.

We still see the aftermath of the pandemic. Shutdowns, social isolation and uncertainty about the future. Closed schools and leisure services for young people have, for many, gone beyond mental health. We still have too high sick leave. The waiting times increased sharply due to the pandemic. We work with this with the health and care services to solve. At the next crisis, we must be able to both protect our society, while also reducing late injuries. Fortunately, we are now better equipped to meet this ambition.

JAn Christan Vestre

Minister of Health

Deputy Chair of the Labor Party

Truls Vasvik

Health policy spokesperson

The Labor Party