Finns have had the ability to react to decisions concerning them when necessary. An early example of this is the Great Petition collected already before independence in 1899 against the Russianization efforts of the empire.
(Eetu Isto: The Attack 1899)
According to the unanimous decision of the regional council of the North Ostrobothnia wellbeing services county Pohde (kesk, kok, sdp, ps, vas, vihr, kd, liik), the large southern Oulu region, with over 120,000 inhabitants, must have 24/7 primary healthcare on-call services.
The North Ostrobothnia wellbeing services county has, through extensive savings measures, turned its budget for this year into a surplus of 9.4 million euros, and according to it, no significant savings can be expected from closing Oulaskangas night emergency services. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, on the other hand, has calculated that closing the night emergency services could bring a 0.2% saving to the wellbeing services countyâs expenses, which is why the Parliament decided in December to close Oulaskangas night emergency services.
An overwhelming majority of residents in the southern Oulu region, regardless of political affiliation, support maintaining Oulaskangas night emergency services, which are central to the regionâs health services and safety. For this reason, a citizensâ initiative was launched in favor of the night emergency services, which has already gathered over 40,000 signatures.
According to @JNivala, a doctor/investor and healthcare expert living in the area, the planned closure of the night emergency services cannot be justified by savings, staff shortages, or patient numbers. The wellbeing services countyâs budget is in surplus, the required number of staff is low, i.e., only 4.5 employees per night on weekdays, and the number of patients at night averages 25-40, when counting patients present at the start of the night shift and those arriving during the night.
If Oulaskangas night emergency services are closed, the journey to night emergency services will increase to at least 150 kilometers in several municipalities and cities. @JNivala: âOne weekday evening at 9 PM, I went to my own clinic to remove a Lego brick from a toddlerâs nostril. Generally, such a procedure can be performed by a general practitioner up to a certain point. For this family, without my intervention, the operation would have meant a 50 km journey to Oulaskangas. In the future, such cases will have to travel overnight to Oulu, over 150 km away.â
As the journey lengthens, emergency medical service tasks will take longer, response times will slow down, and situations may arise where emergency medical services/ambulances are not available in the field (I myself suffered a severe anaphylactic shock 8.5 years ago, but I survived because an ambulance was less than 2 km away at the time).
Fb-update from an Oulu local politician (kok)
Resident @timontti states: âI do not consider the closure of Oulaskangas night emergency services justified, considering the minimal savings achieved in relation to the benefit gained for the money.â
We forum members know how to do good: the Ukraine collection raised a total of over 62,000 euros! The people in the Oulaskangas area and those visiting there are just as important as Ukrainians.
We hope that forum members will come in large numbers to support our important cause and sign the citizensâ initiativeđ
In favor of Oulaskangas night emergency services,
) in those boosts, as the click count for the citizensâ initiative signature link has increased. If I remember correctly, the number was ~100 when I started announcing it, and now itâs already over 160.
