Mounting pressure on Sweden over Gaza medevac refusals
The centre-right coalition government, composed of Moderates, Liberals, and Christian Democrats, is arguing that Sweden already supports Egyptian healthcare with medical equipment and also supports UN bodies, such as UNICEF and UNFPA, by providing healthcare and humanitarian support on the ground.
"The government does not rule out, as other countries do, accepting patients for care in Sweden as a complement to on-site assistance. In each case, consideration must be given to the circumstances, what solutions will provide the fastest help to those in need, and also how we can best help as many people as possible. In the current context, it is crucial to ensure that people receive immediate help where they are," Acko Ankarberg Johansson, the Christian Democrat Health Minister, told Euractiv. Agency on standby Magdalena Tham Lindell, head of humanitarian operations at the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), told Euractiv that the agency has so far had to turn down 37 requests from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism for the medical evacuation of trauma patients from Gaza since the conflict between Hamas and Israel began.
"We do not have any mission from the Swedish government to carry out such a task," she added.
However, Tham Lindell also said that the Civil Contingencies Agency is ready to carry out medical transport of patients from Gaza to Sweden.
"Yes, we are well prepared to do this if we receive such a mission," she said.
As early as 2023, the acting EU Commissioners, Stella Kyriakides and Janez Lenarčič, urged member states to provide care to patients from Gaza. The UN and the WHO have also been calling for assistance and support. Pressure on Sweden Despite an EU-wide slow reaction, 14 EU countries, including Italy, Romania, and Spain, are currently assisting with medical evacuations from Gaza, according to the EU mechanism.
With the situation deteriorating into a worst-case scenario involving widespread hospital destruction, starvation and the killing of civilians by the Israeli side, calls for the evacuation of wounded children and adults have grown louder and more frequent in Sweden.
Stakeholders, including the Swedish Association of Health Professionals (the union representing nurses and midwives), doctors, hospitals, and private care providers, have requested that ministers revise their position.
The Hospital Doctors Association has recently reiterated its request to allow Gaza patients admission into Sweden in an open letter to the government.
"We are dismayed that despite the readiness of healthcare providers, the Swedish government is refusing to accept patients from Gaza," the association's board wrote. Parliamentary pressure Daniel Helldén, one of the Swedish Green Party's two spokespersons, also formally asked Ulf Kristersson, the Swedish Prime Minister, what would make the government change its mind on the issue.
"We have individual regions, hospitals and doctors who want to help. Many other countries have helped. Doctors who have been on the ground say that their resources are not enough while the killing continues. I can't for the life of me understand why the government is saying no to this," he told Dagens Nyheter.
Fredrik Lundh Sammeli, Health Spokesperson and a Parliamentarian for the Social Democrats, the Swedish main opposition party, recently asked on Facebook: "How long will the government stand by while children die?"
If the Swedish Parliament had been open, he wrote, he would already have called the Minister for Health to the Social Affairs Committee to answer: "Why does Sweden refuse to accept injured children from Gaza, when other European countries do?" Passive stance Lundh Sammeli also told Euractiv that the party considers that the government has taken a far too passive position on the Gaza issue.
"This is sad. Sweden should be committed to assisting people in need during humanitarian disasters and conflicts. We have received seriously injured people from Ukraine and should have the same attitude to the Gaza war as part of the coordinated European effort."
He insisted that on-the-spot help and transporting seriously injured people to Swedish hospitals are not mutually exclusive.
Sweden has so far received and treated 237 patients from Ukraine since the Russian full-scale invasion in 2022, Johan Köhler, Programme Manager at the National and Civil Protection Operations Section of the MSB, told Euractiv.
According to the BBC and the Sunday Times, the UK government now plans to evacuate up to 300 seriously ill or wounded children from Gaza. The plan could be set into action within weeks. A private initiative has already brought Palestinian children from Gaza to the UK.
[Edited by Vasiliki Angouridi]
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