The Public Health Authority's counter-attack against Åkesson

The Swedish corona strategy is based on loosely based assumptions and has failed in capital, wrote the Swedish Democrats' party leader Jimmie Åkesson on Dagens Nyheter's debate page.

Director of Public Health, Johan Carlson, now reacts strongly to the party leader's statement.

- It is remarkable and highly inappropriate to make the Public Health Agency a bat in the political debate, Johan Carlson tells TT.

In the debate article, Åkesson above all points to the fact that so many elderly people have died in the elderly due to the pandemic.

"Our elders have obviously not received the protection and support that they can rightly expect," he writes in the article, where he demands, among other things, the state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell's departure.

- It's not something he's dealing with. It is neither the government nor he who hires officials, says Johan Carlson.

Although many elderly people have died in elderly care, right?

- Yes, but it is hardly the fault of the infection, let alone Anders Tegnells. We and other responsible authorities have for several years pointed out the obvious shortcomings that exist in elderly care. What has happened in the elderly care is a consequence of the neglected structure and preparedness that exists in the elderly care, with high staff turnover and so on.

Since 2003, at least three state investigations have also pointed to these shortcomings and the "strange and strange" legislation surrounding municipal elder care, according to Johan Carlson.

- For example, I do not think many people know that it is prohibited by law for municipalities to employ doctors in the elderly care. But despite these investigations and despite the fact that we and others have pointed this out for several years, there has obviously been no interest among politicians, that is, such as Jimmie Åkesson, to change this. To say in such a situation that it is our fault is most remarkable, he says.

Johan Carlson does not want to blame the elderly care staff. On the contrary.

- The staff has struggled really hard, but it has not had the right conditions from the beginning and this is what politicians should worry about. Not an authority that has put all its energy into trying to deal with this pandemic. There are politicians who are a bit more familiar and interested in how we should best protect our elderly, which Åkesson should be.

But shouldn't you have acted differently if that knowledge of elderly care existed?

- What would you have done? Already on the tenth of March the visits were limited, but the elderly must be taken care of and so they stood there without equipment.