When Health North Director Marit Lind declared on live television, “we do not have the same access to competent employees in the north,” her words resonated far beyond mere rhetoric.
This statement reflects a deeper issue—one steeped in prevailing attitudes. It suggests a leadership perspective that overlooks the complexities of the healthcare system, ultimately failing both the people and the region she is meant to serve.
Rather than fostering a robust healthcare framework in northern Norway, we witness Helse Nord’s gradual erosion of essential services. Departments are shuttered, offerings are centralized, and increasingly, patients are forced to travel long distances just to receive basic care.
The health enterprise appears to be pitting residents against one another, especially evident in the contentious debates surrounding the PCI services between Bodø and Tromsø. The rationale often cited is a lack of personnel, yet this stance swiftly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Who would choose to live and work in an area marked as deficient in skilled labor, especially when management sends such discouraging signals? Ironically, Lind herself hails from the north.
The region’s youth are keenly aware of the stakes. They watch as hospitals face closure, internships vanish, and as Health North’s leadership speaks of northern Norway not as a land of potential, but as a problem. How can they envision pursuing their education, building careers, and establishing lives in a place often painted as a liability?
It seems as though the director has lost sight of a fundamental truth: Helse Nord exists for the benefit of the people in the north, not the other way around.
If we are to secure a thriving Northern Norway, we must pivot from centralization to investment—investing in professionals, education, local hospitals, and community trust.
We need to shift the narrative from viewing the north as a burden to recognizing it as a valuable resource.
At this moment, it isn’t the youth turning their backs on the north; it’s Helse Nord that seems to have turned its back on a region rich with natural resources and abundant talent, essential for our nation’s future.