Abstract
THE March issue of the Anglo Swedish Review gives an interesting account by Torsten Trietz of the organization of medical services in Sweden. Preventive medicine is administered by public health officers, of whom there is one in each of the twenty-four counties and larger cities. Outdoor medical treatment is provided by the following groups of physicians: (1) in the provinces the district doctor is a State official appointed for the medical care of the population in rural districts, who receives a fixed salary and retiring allowance ; (2) urban physicians, who are also salaried physicians but are paid by the municipality ; (3) private practitioners who are also paid a salary. Owing to their social importance tuberculosis and venereal diseases are compulsorily notifiable and free treatment is provided. There is a panel service national health insurance, of which the cost is borne partly by the State and partly by the fees of the insured. The public indoor service is mainly provided in general hospitals and is administered by the county councils or municipal councils, and paid for by the taxpayers. The hospital treatment of tuberculosis is organized in sanatoria, of which there are about 100 with about 8,000 beds. Care of infectious diseases in fever hospitals is compulsory for certain diseases and is free. Radiological treatment of malignant growths and similar diseases is organized in special cancer clinics at Stockholm, Gothenburg, Lund and Uppsala. All indoor relief of mental cases is administered by the State in some twenty hospitals containing 17,000 beds. The nurses in Sweden receive three years training in the larger hospitals in co-operation with the Swedish Red Cross. Midwives are trained at two colleges, and treat the vast majority of cases of childbirth.
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Medical Services in Sweden. Nature 149, 468 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/149468c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/149468c0