Healthcare in Finland

Health care in Finland consists of a highly decentralized, three-level publicly funded healthcare system and a much smaller private sector. Although the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has the highest decision-making authority, the municipalities (local governments) are responsible for providing healthcare to their residents.

Finland offers its residents universal healthcare. Health promotion, including prevention of diseases has been the main focus of Finnish healthcare policies for decades. This has resulted in the eradication of certain communicable diseases and improvement in the health of population.

The quality of service in Finnish healthcare is considered to be good; according to a survey published by the European Commission in 2000, Finland belongs to the top 5 of countries who are most satisfied with their healthcare. In average 88% of Finnish respondents were satisfied compared with the EU average of 41.3%.

Finland’s journey to a welfare state has been long, from a very modest start. The history of modern medicine in Finland can be considered to have begun at 1640 when the first university of Finland, The Royal Academy of Turku, was established. At the time Finland was a part of the Swedish Empire. As the field of medicine did not enjoy very high status in society at the time, the importance of trained medical faculty remained low for a long time. Until 1750, the professor of medicine was the only trained medical doctor in Finland.

An example of early treatment facilities for tuberculosis and leprosy was a hospital on the island of Själö (or Seili in Finnish) which was established on the 1624 and run by the church. It was chosen due to its remote location from the mainland. It was not however until 1759 that the first hospital, albeit a modest hospital, was established in Turku. Consisting of six patient beds in a simple wooden building, it nonetheless marked the first step toward the modern Finnish medical system. It is noteworthy that at the time, Finland had a much lower doctor-patient ratio comparing to neighboring countries. This lasted all the way until the 20th century.

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Wikipedia