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HEALTH

Tourists from Sweden welcome in Greece but with restrictions

Sweden was included in Greece's border reopening on Saturday but those who fly from Stockholm must be quarantined upon arrival.

Tourists from Sweden welcome in Greece but with restrictions
People visit the Pnyx Hill in Athens overlooking the ancient Acropolis on May 29, 2020 as Greece eases lockdown measures taken to curb the spread of COVID-19. Louisa GOULIAMAKI / AFP

Sweden was initially one of several countries that were excluded from entering Greece, when the country announced its first stage of border reopening on Friday.

However, on Saturday, Greece updated and expanded its guidelines on which travellers will be allowed into the country from June 15th.

Now visitors from countries that have been severely affected by the coronavirus will be allowed into Greece.

It will decided on which airport you arrive from, not which country you come from, a Greek government spokesman told AFP news agency. Those flying in from the worst affected regions will be forced to quarantine upon arrival. 

According to a document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Greece will refer to the European Aviation Safety Authority list of airports with a high risk of contamination. The Stockholm region is currently included in this list, along with regions in Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the U.K. and the whole of Belgium. No airports in any of the other Scandinavian countries are included in the list.

If travelling from an airport that is not on the list, only random testing will be conducted at the airport in Greece.

If arriving from a listed high-risk airport, the passenger will be tested for the coronavirus on arrival. If it's negative, the passenger has to self-quarantine for seven days. If it's positive, the passenger must quarantine under supervision for 14 days, according to the document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Between June 15 and June 30, only flights to the international airports of the capital Athens and Thessaloniki are allowed. Other regional airports open on July 1.  Any updates or changes to listed airports will only occur if EASA's list is updated, a Greek government spokesman told AFP.  

 

Member comments

  1. Greece is quite desperate for tourist’s money so even this will be overlooked. Swedes just have to be creative is all.

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HEALTH

When can doctors in Denmark refuse to continue treating patients?

General Practitioners in Denmark have the right to break off a patient-doctor relationship in specific circumstances.

When can doctors in Denmark refuse to continue treating patients?

Although doctors in Denmark have the right to decide not to continue treating a patient – requiring them to find a new GP – the circumstances in which this can happen are limited, and must be approved by health authorities.

The frequency in which the circumstances arise is also low. A doctor decided to no longer receive a patient on 375 occasions in 2016, according to the medical professionals’ journal Ugeskrift for Læger. The following year, newspaper Jyllands-Posten reported the figure at 458.

There are two main categories of circumstances in which a doctor can choose to take this step. The first is in instances of violent or threatening behaviour from the patient towards the doctor. 

The second (and most common) is when the doctor considers the relationship to have deteriorated to the extent that confidence has broken down, according to Ugeskrift for Læger.

It should be noted that patients are not bound by any restrictions in this regard, and can decide to change their GP without having to give any justification.

A patient also has the right to appeal against a doctor’s decision to ask them to find a new GP. This is done by appealing to the local health authority, called a Region in the Danish health system.

In such cases, a board at the regional health authority will assess the claim and if it finds in favour of the patient may order the doctor to attempt to repair the relationship.

Doctors cannot end a relationship with a patient purely because a patient has made a complaint about them to health authorities. This is because patients should have the option of making complaints without fear of consequences for their future treatment. 

However, if this is accompanied by the conclusion on the doctor’s part that there is no longer confidence in them on the part of the patient, they can remove the patient from their list.

The right to no longer see patients in the circumstances detailed above is provided by doctors’ collective bargaining agreements, the working conditions agreed on between trade unions and employer confederations under the Danish labour market system.

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