Vestre opens medicine exemptions for seriously ill patients

Minister of Health and Care Jan Christian Vestre (Ap) explains to VG that it should be opened up for individual assessment in certain cases.

– We are now in favor of an arrangement that gives individual patients the opportunity to access medicines that Norway has initially said no to, says Vestre.

Patients should thus be able to have vital medicines covered, even though the state body Beslutningsforum has for the time being said no to the medicine being introduced nationally.

Criticism has been directed from several quarters once morest long decision-making processes in the Decision Forum. The waiting time has also led to many seriously ill patients paying large sums out of their own pockets to access treatment while they wait.

Vestre clarifies that the scheme must be used in special cases where there are good reasons why the patient’s situation must be assessed individually.

The responsible attending physician can then, together with the medical officer at the hospital, make a request to a committee that the patient should be assessed separately.

The Norwegian Cancer Society calls it a milestone and a major victory for Norwegian patients.

– Now the patients will get an absolutely necessary safety net, which they did not have before, by giving them an individual right to have it assessed whether they should be on vital medication, even though the Decision-Making Forum has said no to this medication at national level, says Secretary General Ingrid Stenstadvold Ross.