The testing and tracing of Covid cases is putting increasing pressure on the Finnish public healthcare system, with many municipalities and hospital districts calling on the government to modify the current hybrid strategy aimed at tackling the latest effects of the pandemic.
Healthcare staff and resources have been drawn towards curbing the recent uptick in infections. This has led to people in many municpalities facing long delays when seeking appointments for non-Covid-related issues.
For example, the burden of tracing Covid cases is having a detrimental impact on services provided by the hospital district of Southwest Finland, according to Infectious Diseases Physician Esa Rintala.
"Counselling centres, school health care services and health centres are suffering," Rintala said.
This in turn has a knock on effect on emergency rooms in hospitals, which are becoming more congested as people cannot get appointments at health centres.
"The treatment of chronic diseases in particular is being affected," according to Tuula Karhula, director of healthcare services with the South Karelia Social and Health District, Eksote.
Physician: "This cannot continue"
Hospital districts across the country are now hoping for guidance from authorities on how to handle the situation, with Rintala calling for immediate action to protect the functioning of primary healthcare services.
"This cannot continue. There has to be a change in the testing policy," she told Yle, adding that authorities should consider whether such extensive testing is the right strategy for managing the pandemic.
"Large-scale testing of vaccinated people is not practical," Rintala said.
HUS joins calls for clearer guidance
Acting Chief Medical Officer with the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district (HUS), Jari Petäjä, also joined calls for clearer guidance and instructions from the government on what level of testing capacity is expected and how it will be funded.
According to Petäjä, testing capacity cannot be increased from the current level, as it already requires a large number of professionals.
"Rather, it should be assessed whether the number of tests could be reduced," he said, adding that the current tracing policy also needs to be reviewed as it is very closely connected to managing testing capacities.
"For example, if all students in a school classroom are defined as having been exposed to the virus, instead of those sitting at nearby desks, it will produce many times more samples for us to test," Petäjä said.
While waiting for government guidance, some regional authorities have decided to take matters into their own hands. The Pirkanmaa region, for example, announced last week that fully vaccinated people no longer need to apply for a coronavirus test if they only have mild symptoms of a respiratory infection.
However, the policy was drawn by the hospital district in accordance with its own risk assessment and does not apply to healthcare workers or people exposed to the virus.