At the University Hospital in Linköping, Vrinnevis Hospital in Norrköping and Visby Hospital, several thousand people are now in line.

They are waiting for care that the hospitals have been forced to prioritize away during the pandemic.  

- The longer the time goes by and the longer you have to wait for your procedure, then it is clear that the problems may increase, says Eva-Lena Zetterlund, acting director of care in the Östergötland Region.

Motala's figures stand out in the statistics.

Here, more operations have been carried out during the pandemic than before.

According to the medical management at Motala Hospital, this is probably due to the fact that they have been commissioned by the Östergötland Region to carry out a large number of operations against cataracts.

"We have learned from the pandemic"

Despite the long queues, Eva-Lena Zetterlund is hopeful - the pandemic has taught the healthcare management a lot.

- I think we are more equipped now than before the pandemic.

We work across hospital boundaries, we see the system as a whole unit and we work across clinic boundaries to put this puzzle together.

In the clip above, you can see how many people are waiting for surgery in Östergötland and on Gotland.