Ben Hamilton
February 19th, 2021

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Only another 440 emails to send before lunch (photo: World Bank Photo Collection)

It’s very probably happened to you that you’ve taken a coronavirus test, returned home, waited 30-60 minutes and then started picketing sundhed.dk, visiting the site up to 20 times before it eventually lets you know that the result is ‘Negative’.

But then, around three to four days later, you’ve received a notification that there’s an important message from your GP. 

A deep gulp follows as you enter your NEMID details and click on the link. “You’ve tested negative,” it reads.

Let’s face it, you’re relieved but peeved. The last thing you’re going to do is write to your GP and say: “Thank you for reminding me; I would have forgotten otherwise. Likewise thank you for last month’s message that my head is still attached to my body.”

Some GPs have earned a huge sum
Well, it turns out that every time your GP sends you this completely un-necessary confirmation, they are benefiting to the tune of 45.72 kroner.

To qualify for the amount, the reason for the email needs to be  “professionally indicated” – whatever that means!

Yesterday Kommunernes Landsforening, the association of the country’s 98 municipalities, confirmed that the racket has so far cost it 23.4 million kroner.

According to Professor Kjeld Møller Pedersen from the University of Southern Denmark, this is “a huge waste of taxpayers’ money”.

400,000 kroner in six months!
The GPs have been able to charge a fee for sending negative test results since June, and Venstre regional councillor Bo Libergren, a chair on the KL’s payments and tariffs board, has had enough.

“This is completely unacceptable. It was never the intention to offer a service that provides absolutely no value to patients,” he told Radio4.

The radio station has discovered during its research that a capital region medical practice earned 405,531 kroner between June and December, while another just north of Copenhagen earned 405,146 during the same period.