Cross-border travel speeds up health cooperation
Regional health authorities want an agreement with Russia to secure financial settlement for Russian patients receiving treatment at hospitals in Northern Norway.
The agreement on visa free travel for inhabitants in the Norwegian-Russian border zone speeds up the need for more detailed health cooperation between the two countries.
The Regional Health Authority in Northern Norway has asked the Ministry of Health and Care Services to take initiative to a financing arrangement with Russia, according to newspaper Finnmarken.
The hospital in Kirkenes treats many Russian patients every year and will become even more important when 45.000 Russians get the right to travel into the Norwegian border area without visa.
Construction of a new €75 million hospital outside Kirkenes is planned to start in 2014, as BarentsObserver reported.
An agreement for financial settlement of hospital bills has to be bilateral, as treatment of Norwegian patients at hospitals in Russia probably will become a relevant topic, the health authorities say.
