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PM short 9,813 beds in hospital election promise

Ann Törnkvist
Ann Törnkvist - [email protected]
PM short 9,813 beds in hospital election promise
Health Minister Jonas Gahr Støre visits St.Olav hospital. File photo: Geir Otto Johansen/Scanpix

The Labour Party promised the Norwegian electorate 12,000 new hospital beds during elections in 2009, but four years on, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's government has conjured up only a rather slim 2,187 beds, according to a new review.

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Figures from Statistics Norway (Statistisk sentralbyrå) show that Stoltenberg's government is lagging almost 10,000 beds behind their pre-ballot promise.

The national total has reached over 41,000 beds, including elder care facilities. 

The health minister, meanwhile, took issue with the statistics published in the Verdens Gang (VG) newspaper on Thursday. Jonas Gahr Støre claimed the real number is closer to 4,000, if you included health care facilities that have been renovated.

"We are on track. Our goal was to provide support for the construction and renovation of the 12,000 care spaces by the end of 2015," he told VG.

"We have so far given the green light to 7,100 places. 4,000 of them are finished."

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