The Agrarian Party suggests that youth should be able to choose between serving in the Norwegian Defense or do civil service in the health sector while in compulsory military training.
The spokesperson for health politics in the Agrarian Party, Kjersti Toppe, says that the proposal is meant to help prepare us for a future staffing crisis within the health sector. One out of three youth will have to choose the profession if we are going to remain at today's staff level in 2040.
The solution, she suggests, is to let conscripts choose to undergo paid training at minimum wage during their military service, as well as the opportunity to have their student loans reduced.
However, Anders Folkestad, head of Unio, a confederation of unions in the public sector, thinks the proposal is too expensive. If an estimated 50,000 youth choose to serve in the health sector rather than in the Norwegian Defense, the government would have to pay out salaries of more than NOK 13 billion annually.
Folkestad thinks the money should be placed elsewhere, for example used to create more beds in nursing homes and psychiatric care, he tells Aftenposten.
Meanwhile, Toppe, although positive, does not think the system could be put in place in another 10-20 years, and that it still requires more work and time to mature.
(Aftenposten)
Julie Ryland
