Regions are identified as responsible for emergency response missions

Andreas Wladis believes that what has happened now is by no means unexpected. First, there has been widespread realization that a pandemic is coming, sooner or later. Secondly, the problems that have arisen in view of the poor preparedness have been easy to foresee.

- After all, we have highlighted these shortcomings in emergency preparedness in various channels, in academia, in meetings with authorities and in contact with the health service. The knowledge has been there for many years that this would come, and we have also known the consequences, he says and continues:

- If you meet someone who pretends to be surprised that we are in this sad situation today, then you should not believe that person, because either he or she is ignorant or he or she plays ignorant.

He also points out that there are laws that state that it is the responsibility of the regions to ensure that we have good emergency preparedness in the healthcare sector. One of these (Law 2006: 544) states, among other things, that "municipalities and regions should ... have a good ability to handle crisis situations in peace".

According to Wladis, this means, for example, that the regions must ensure that there are adequate emergency stocks of equipment and medicines.

That responsibility for emergency preparedness in health care lies on the shoulders of the regions is something that Social Minister Lena Hallengren (S) agrees with. Here's how to answer the question of whether she and / or the government should have kept track of the fact that the regions have not maintained the crisis preparedness that proved to be insufficient in this pandemic:

- Yes, the health care has a responsibility to have a preparedness for it in the same way as within other activities. This is what Swedish preparedness looks like, and it is something we have agreed on when we are going to handle crises. Now we are in a completely exceptional crisis, which I honestly have a hard time seeing that anyone has been prepared for whatever systems you have had, but you may have been more or less prepared, says Lena Hallengren and continues:

- It is clear that I feel a concern about how we will handle situations in the future if we do not build stock and find another way to be sustainable in the future and have a longer-term preparedness. It will be important in the future.

On the part of the regions, one is aware of the picture of responsibility, but believes that it is difficult to predict a pandemic of this magnitude.

- It will be difficult to have adequate preparation at regional level. It is the national authorities that must provide guidance for the regions. But now regions and municipalities are gathering power to cope with the crisis and so far things are going well, says Ann-Sofie Eriksson, section manager at Sweden's municipalities and regions (SKR).

- Then the regions have crisis preparedness and there is more work to be done. There is a project together with MSB for the regions to be more prepared. But we have long argued that this project is under-funded, she says.