Health­care in Oulu: Pub­lic, Pri­vate and Emer­gency Care

Mov­ing to a new coun­try can be an excit­ing adven­ture, but it can also bring chal­lenges, espe­cial­ly when it comes to health­care. If you become ill or need med­ical advice, under­stand­ing how to access health­care ser­vices can feel over­whelm­ing at first. Know­ing where to go and what sup­port is avail­able can help you get the care you need with con­fi­dence.

This guide is here to tell you some of the basics and hope­ful­ly help you be pre­pared, so you know who to turn to in the unfor­tu­nate event that you do fall ill.

Dis­claimer: This arti­cle is intend­ed for gen­er­al infor­ma­tion­al pur­pos­es only and should not be con­sid­ered med­ical advice.

Pub­lic Health­care Ser­vices in Oulu

Fin­land’s pub­lic health­care sys­tem is sup­port­ed large­ly by tax fund­ing. Although cer­tain health­care ser­vices car­ry a fee, the costs for res­i­dents are gen­er­al­ly kept low.

Whilst every­one has the right to emer­gency med­ical care in the Finnish pub­lic health­care sys­tem, the extent and cost of treat­ment can depend on dif­fer­ent fac­tors. You can find out more about your enti­tle­ment on the Kela web­site: Enti­tle­ment to med­ical care in Fin­land | Our Ser­vices | Kela

Pohde is the well­be­ing ser­vice provider for North Ostro­both­nia, which is where Oulu is locat­ed. You can find their offi­cial web­site here: Etu­sivu — Pohjois-Poh­jan­maan hyv­in­voin­tialue

You can trans­late their web­site into sev­er­al lan­guages, includ­ing Eng­lish, Swedish, Russ­ian, Ukrain­ian, Ara­bic and Soma­lian.

Pohde has sev­er­al ser­vices:

These lists are not exhaus­tive, and if there is some­thing you need, you can search their web­site to see what they offer to help sup­port you.

At the time of writ­ing, the fee for a doc­tor’s appoint­ment at a Pohde health cen­ter is €30.20. For more infor­ma­tion about the charges for using Pohde ser­vices, you can see the most up to date infor­ma­tion on their web­site: Asi­akas­mak­sut — Pohde

When you use Pohde ser­vices, you will receive an invoice via mail, or through elec­tron­ic ser­vices if you have them enabled. This is usu­al­ly sent a few weeks after the ser­vices are used. You do not need to pay up front or on the day. More infor­ma­tion, includ­ing instruc­tions on how to sign up to receive elec­tron­ic invoic­es, is on the Pohde web­site: Laskun mak­sami­nen — Pohde

Pohde has health cen­ters in the fol­low­ing places around Oulu:

• Haukipu­das, Simp­pu­lantie 15
• Kaakuri, Pesätie 11
• Kiimin­ki, Ter­veystie 1–3
• Kontingkan­gas, Kajaan­in­tie 46 A
• Oulun­sa­lo, Kaup­pi­aantie 10
• Tuira, Kan­gastie 16

To book an appoint­ment, you can find the phone num­ber for your local cen­ter on the fol­low­ing web­page: Doc­tor’s and nurse’s appoint­ments

You can also book appoint­ments via a chat using the OmaPo­hde app on a smart phone. The chat at first appears to be in Finnish, but once you begin, you can choose to change the lan­guage and receive ser­vice in Eng­lish.

Health­care for Stu­dents

You can use the Finnish Stu­dent Health­care Ser­vices (FSHS) if you are study­ing for a bach­e­lor’s or mas­ter’s degree and you have reg­is­tered as present for the cur­rent semes­ter at your insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion. FSHS is known as YTHS in Finnish, but they are the same thing. You can find out more about whether you are eli­gi­ble to use FSHS on their web­site: The right to use FSHS ser­vices — FSHS

Whilst a lot of the ser­vices pro­vid­ed by FSHS are free, there is a health­care fee for stu­dents to pay each semes­ter via Kela. There are no bills sent to stu­dents for this fee, so be sure to set your­self a reminder to pay. More infor­ma­tion about the fee, includ­ing how much it is, can be found on the Kela web­site: Health­care fee for stu­dents in high­er edu­ca­tion | Our Ser­vices | Kela

Stu­dents who car­ry a valid Euro­pean Health Insur­ance Card (EHIC), or a Glob­al Health Insur­ance Card from the UK and North­ern Ire­land (GHIC), may also be eli­gi­ble to use FSHS ser­vices with­out pay­ing the health­care fee. More infor­ma­tion about how to access ser­vices if you hold one of these cards can be found here: Stu­dent from EU or EEA coun­tries: pro­vide EHIC Card — FSHS

The Oulu FSHS cen­ter is locat­ed near the Lin­nan­maa Cam­pus at Yliopis­tokatu 1 A.

If you need an appoint­ment, you can use the YTHS­Di­gi app, and chat with an FSHS pro­fes­sion­al, or alter­na­tive­ly you can call their nation­al ser­vice phone num­bers. You can find details about this on their web­site: Con­tact the assess­ment of the need for treat­ment team — FSHS

Pri­vate Health­care and Occu­pa­tion­al Health

Along­side the pub­lic health­care ser­vices, a range of pri­vate health­care providers oper­ate through­out the coun­try. The most well-known are Ter­veysta­lo, Mehiläi­nen, and Pih­la­jalin­na. They offer health­care ser­vices at a high­er cost than pub­lic health­care providers; how­ev­er, you can often get an appoint­ment more quick­ly.

Some employ­ers pro­vide health­care to their employ­ees via one of the pri­vate health­care com­pa­nies, in which case you can use those ser­vices often with­out hav­ing to pay. Infor­ma­tion about any cov­er­age pro­vid­ed by your employ­er should be in your con­tract or avail­able from your HR depart­ment.

Your employ­er may not offer full pri­vate health care; how­ev­er, they do have an oblig­a­tion to offer occu­pa­tion­al health­care. Occu­pa­tion­al health care aims to pre­vent work-relat­ed ill­ness­es and acci­dents while pro­mot­ing employ­ee well-being and work capac­i­ty. For more infor­ma­tion about what that includes, speak to your man­age­ment team.

If you are sick whilst employed, you may be eli­gi­ble for sick leave. Whilst your employ­er can­not fire you because you are ill, if your ill­ness makes you unable to work at all, the employ­er may have the right to let you go. You can find more about your rights in Fin­land when it comes to being sick whilst at work here: Sick leave, employ­ment rela­tion­ship and patient’s rights — Health and med­ical care — Suomi.fi

Emer­gency Care

There are a few dif­fer­ent types of emer­gency care avail­able in Oulu.

• Urgent Care: This is for any non-life-threat­en­ing injuries that require med­ical care prompt­ly. This could be: minor frac­tures, sprains, or cuts, ear infec­tions, uri­nary tract infec­tions, or oth­er acute but sta­ble con­di­tions.
  
  Urgent care can be sought from any of the pub­lic health care cen­ters in and around Oulu dur­ing their open­ing hours.
  
  You can call 116 117 for non-emer­gency med­ical advice.
  
• Emer­gency Room: This is for life-threat­en­ing sit­u­a­tions where treat­ment can­not be delayed until the next work­ing day with­out the risk of the ill­ness or injury becom­ing worse. This could be: chest pain, stroke symp­toms, severe breath­ing dif­fi­cul­ties, uncon­scious­ness, major bleed­ing, seizures, or any con­di­tion that could threat­en life, health, or limb.
  
  Emer­gency care can be sought from the Oulu Uni­ver­si­ty Hos­pi­tal, locat­ed at Kajaan­in­tie 50. It is open 24/7, all year round.
  
  You can call 112 for emer­gency med­ical advice.

Phar­ma­cies

In many coun­tries, med­i­c­i­nal prod­ucts can be pur­chased in super­mar­kets, but in Fin­land they are only avail­able at phar­ma­cies. Known as Apteek­ki in Finnish, phar­ma­cies are the only places where you can buy over-the-counter med­i­cines or col­lect pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tion.

Phar­ma­cists are high­ly trained health­care pro­fes­sion­als who can pro­vide advice on treat­ing minor ill­ness­es, using med­ica­tions safe­ly, and man­ag­ing com­mon health con­cerns. In addi­tion to med­i­cines, Finnish phar­ma­cies also sell vit­a­mins, skin­care prod­ucts, first aid sup­plies, and oth­er health-relat­ed items. They even sell health care for pets too.

Most phar­ma­cies are con­ve­nient­ly locat­ed near super­mar­kets, and in the city cen­ter, mak­ing them easy to access when need­ed.

Liv­ing Well in Oulu

There are many ways to sup­port a healthy lifestyle in Oulu, from sim­ple every­day habits to more struc­tured activ­i­ties. Explore the resources below for tips, ser­vices, and oppor­tu­ni­ties to help you stay healthy while liv­ing in Oulu.

Win­ter Activ­i­ties and Sports: Beyond the Cold: Dis­cov­er Win­ter in Oulu – Oulu

Out­door Activ­i­ties: Oulu Out­doors: Nature on Your Doorstep – Oulu

Berry and Mush­room Pick­ing: Into the Woods: For­ag­ing for Flavour – Oulu

Free hob­bies and leisure activ­i­ties: Free-of-cost hob­by, leisure and cul­ture activ­i­ties in Oulu – Oulu

City of Oulu’s infor­ma­tion about Sports & Exer­cise: Sport & Exer­cise | City of Oulu

Pohde’s infor­ma­tion about nutri­tion: Rav­it­se­mus — Pohde

Pohde’s infor­ma­tion about sleep: Uni — Pohde

We wish you a healthy and hap­py day!

Text by: Sophie Platt