Proposals on student health care
A ministry working group has drawn up a range of proposals to improve the status of student healthcare. The working group, set up in 2003 to look into the conditions and goals of healthcare for students from high school level upwards, has in addition drafted a guidebook on the issue.
The proposals endorse the view that student healthcare needs to go beyond the mere provision of health centre services and to emphasise preventive healthcare.
They also include recommendations on the ratio of nurses and doctors to numbers of students, the screening of new students using health questionnaires, and three-yearly inspections of the studying environment conducted jointly by educational institutions, healthcare services, student organisations and, if needed, occupational health bodies.
The working group has also proposed the creation at the ministry of a national advisory on student healthcare.