Discrimination Against Foreign Doctors Widespread In Sweden

On Aug 28, 2021

There has been Widespread discrimination against medics with foreign-sounding names in Sweden, due to the Swedish healthcare reform, more than a decade ago allowing patients to choose their own doctors.

Navid Ghan, a 30-year-old practitioner said, “When I was working in psychiatry, a patient cancelled his appointment with me three times because he didn’t want to be treated by a foreign doctor.

“In the end he didn’t have any choice, I was the only doctor available. During the appointment, even though he saw that I spoke Swedish without an accent, he told me you foreigners, you don’t understand anything.”

Since 2010, as part of a broader reform to Sweden’s universal healthcare system that opened up primary healthcare to private actors, patients have been allowed to choose their own doctor and clinic.

Prior to the reform, Swedes were assigned a clinic based on where they lived, but as tensions smoulder over rising immigration in traditionally homogeneous Sweden.

The reform has made it possible for patients to refuse to be treated by non-ethnic Swedes.

Zainab/AFP